According to the World Health Organization (2012a), falls are involuntary events that cause a loss of balance and result in the body hitting the ground or another firm surface.

This organization designates falls as a global public health issue, specifically the second leading cause of unintentional injury-related deaths worldwide, with an estimated total of 684,000 fatal falls annually. In fact, the incidence is even higher because, although not fatal, 37.3 million falls requiring medical attention occur worldwide each year. Furthermore, the costs in the healthcare system resulting from the consequences of falls are substantial, leading to not only health but also economic consequences.

The child population is one of the risk groups for the incidence of falls, due to various factors, including the characteristics of different stages of development, their innate curiosity about their surroundings, and the autonomy they acquire, which leads them to engage in riskier behaviors. Therefore, it can be understood that, despite necessary prevention and care mechanisms, children will experience falls at some point.

In 2019, there were approximately 31,818 deaths of children and adolescents under 15 years of age due to falls (WHO, 2012a). The infant mortality rate due to falls is up to three times higher in low- and middle-income countries than in higher-income countries (Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, 2020), with an association between socioeconomic status and childhood falls.

According to the WHO (2021b), the contexts in which most childhood falls occur are varied. The home itself is one of them, regardless of the country and socio-cultural level. Likewise, playgrounds and play areas are places where the incidence of falls is very common and can have serious consequences, especially if there are bone fractures or head injuries. Educational institutions are also a focal point for these types of accidents, especially during recess and physical education classes. Sports practices and physical activities during leisure time are also contexts with a risk of falls. However, according to Bloemers et al. (2012), sedentary children are more likely to suffer injuries when engaging in activities than active children. Therefore, physical activity, physical fitness, and motor skills could be considered protective factors against falls. Less physically active children may benefit more from educational programs (interventions) related to injury prevention or teaching the skill of falling (Verhagen, Collard & Chinapaw, 2009). Therefore, it is essential to promote physical activity and motor development among children, promoting an active lifestyle and proposing initiatives to reduce or minimize the consequences of falls while they are physically active, rather than avoiding activity as a means to reduce the risk of fall-related injuries.

Preventing these types of accidents is a top priority in all areas, from public administrations to raising awareness among families and, of course, from an educational and healthcare perspective. Professionals in direct contact with children need to be aware of this problem and assess the effectiveness of various prevention actions. As a result of this awareness of the risk of falls, various studies have been conducted to prevent falls, and strategies and mechanisms for preventing falls in the child population have been developed, including providing families with information about the risks of falls in children and how to reduce the risk at home, family education programs, and school-based prevention programs, etc.

In particular, the WHO sets prevention and fall management as a priority line of action. This is evident in their publication "Step Safely: Strategies for preventing and managing falls across the life-course" (WHO, 2021c), through which they aim to promote fall prevention and management, urging various institutions at political, research, and practical levels to reduce the burden of fall-related injuries, calling on all interested parties to work together to implement strategies that reduce the harm, suffering, and loss caused by falls.

In this context, most initiatives are aimed at fall prevention, established at a primary prevention level, meaning they are intended to avoid falls as much as possible, for example, by improving safety measures, handrails, non-slip surfaces, etc., as well as with programs and publications focused in this direction. For example, in Spain, the accident prevention program, "Aprende a crecer con Seguridad" (Burgos & Tejero, 2012), or guides oriented towards preventing unintentional injuries in childhood by Soriano (2008) and Esparza & Mintegi (2016), among others. Internationally, the WHO (2021c) meticulously details various proposals for fall prevention in young people and adolescents, among them:

• Child SAfety europe. Good practice guide for fall prevention in children: https://www.eurosafe.eu.com/uploads/inline-files/good-practice-guide.pdf
• Fall prevention (0-6 years) programme outlines and resources including images and videos: https://parachute.ca/en/injury-topic/fall-prevention-for-children/
• Fall safety for kids: How to prevent falls. https://middlesexhealth.org/learning-center/articles/fall-safety-for-kids-how-to-prevent-falls
• SAfe kidswordwide. Safety tips for child fall-prevention.Safety Tips | Safe Kids Worldwide.

However, there are far fewer initiatives aimed at secondary or tertiary prevention, i.e., aimed at minimizing injuries and harm caused by a fall. These programs are especially relevant in cases where we know that falls are likely to occur, such as during sports activities. But they are also important at a general level because we are aware that the incidence of falls in both children and the elderly is so high that it is virtually impossible to prevent them.

For this reason, the Safe Falls-Safe Schools group, in collaboration with the European Judo Union, has developed a program for active intervention in accidents involving schoolchildren: teaching safe and protected falling techniques. The main goal of this program is to help reduce the harmful consequences of accidental falls in school-age children.