Mexico City - As part of the International Day of the Girl Child, which has been celebrated on October 11 since 2011 to publicize the rights of girls around the world and the unique challenges they face, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the Mexican company Saba signed an agreement to start a nationwide campaign to raise awareness and disseminate information about feminine issues, including general health and pregnancy.

The rate of teenage pregnancies in Mexico ranks first among the countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), with 64 pregnancies per 1,000 teen girls.

The agreement aims to prevent unwanted pregnancies in minors, in addition to combating school dropouts and gender violence.

"There are a billion girls worldwide between ages 0-8 years, of which 18 million live in Mexico," said UNICEF Representative in Mexico Christian Skoog.

In Mexico the number of young women 12 to 18 years is just over 6 million. The Alliance for Mexican Girls will last two years and besides targeting adolescents, it will also be a call to parents. From October to January 2017 there will be a social network campaign, #hablemostodo. Additionally, for those 4 months, Saba and UNICEF will be distributing packages of sanitary napkins via social networks and Saba's website.

According to figures from the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI) in 2015, there were 19.4 million children and adolescents in Mexico, equivalent to 16.2 percent of the country's total population.