Recently, singer, actor and UNICEF Mexico ambassador Cesar Costa discussed problems facing Latin America.

According to EFE, for 10 years, Costa has been an ambassador for UNICEF, which works "with others to overcome the obstacles that poverty, violence, disease and discrimination place in a child's path," according to its website.

"They've been 10 truly marvelous years, during which I'm very grateful and moved to have been able to collaborate, to put in my 2 cents and to have contributed what I can to serving Mexican children, as an actor, as a singer, as an opinion leader," Costa said.

A report released for UNICEF's International Day of the Girl Child, which takes place every Oct. 11, cited by EFE found that nearly 20 percent of births given in Latin America and the Caribbean are by teenagers.

"It is terrible to see children having children," Costa said. "That is, teenagers, girls 13, 14 years old. They have early pregnancies."

According to Costa, the best way to solve the teenage pregnancy problem is through education.

"I think that the only way is [with] a foundation of education, to truly undertake campaigns with the government reporting on the problems that give rise to this, how they can cut short one's fulfillment in life," he said.

Next month will mark the 25th anniversary of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. To celebrate, Costa is working with UNICEF and EFE's "25 leaders, 25 voices for children" campaign.

Costa discussed some of the successes the convention has already seen and other issues he hopes it tackles.

"There have been very important achievements," he said. "They need to be seen, and they need to be acknowledged, as the challenges we have before us must be acknowledged ... [such as] child poverty, the lack of respect for these rights, but OK that's being worked on. But the advances have been significant. I would say the balance sheet is positive."

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Follow Scharon Harding on Twitter: @ScharHar.

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