“Kids save lives” – School resuscitation programs worldwide and WHO initiative for this

•Early CPR improves chances of survival by a factor of 2–4 and can safe nearly 200,000 lives every year in Europe.•Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest survival increased threefold with mandatory BLS-training in Schools in Denmark.•WHO endorse “Kids save lives” and advises that schoolchildren from the age of 12 should be trained in CPR for 2 h per year.•Health care providers and teachers can instruct BLS for schoolchildren easy and inexpensive.•Over time all citizens will act as competent first responders saving lives in cardiac arrest situations.

Survival-rates and neurological outcome after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest significantly depends on the period of time until initiation of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). Considering that the emergency medical arrives 8–12 min after collapse, a desperate need of lay-persons able to perform CPR exists. However, bystander CPR-rates in Europe are alarmingly low. The “Kid-save-lives” initiative is a global call to train youngsters CPR in school to sustainably improve bystander CPR-rates. Thus, a large part of the lay population could be trained in CPR over time, which could save thousands of lives every year. This article provides a brief overview of the scientific knowledge in school resuscitation programs and outlines educational and pedagogical aspects in training of schoolchildren in CPR.

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