ON Saturday, September 9 the British Red Cross launched "Life, Live it" - a nationwide campaign seeking to ensure that young people know basic life-saving skills.

Three million people attend Accident and Emergency departments each year in the UK with the types of injury and illness that first aid can treat. The evidence shows that first aid can help in health emergencies. For instance, immediate cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) can double or triple the chances of survival for a heart attack casualty.

First aid skills can reduce injury and save lives and we would like to see every pupil in the country learn eight first aid essentials. Our report "Life, Live It. The case for first aid in education in UK schools" puts forward flexible and pragmatic proposals about how first aid can be delivered, and where it fits within the schools curriculum.

A survey by Ipsos MORI conducted for the British Red Cross shows that 93% of the British public support first aid being taught in schools.

The Red Cross is also promoting first aid directly to young people in a number of ways, including recruiting 100 young people to become peer educators to train up to 20,000 other young people with first aid skills across the UK. We are also developing a schools education resource which will enable teachers to deliver first aid education in schools.

Please show your support for this campaign by asking your readers and colleagues to send a postcard to your local campaign representative, to obtain copies of the postcard and to find out more about the campaign please contact Jane Rogers on 07921-494437 or jrogers@redcross.org.uk