Gloves do not replace hand hygiene – reminder from WHO

As the world marks World Hand Hygiene Day on May 5, the World Health Organization (WHO) has issued a strong reminder: medical gloves, while essential in certain clinical situations, do not replace the need for proper hand hygiene.

“Medical gloves can reduce the risk of infection, but they are never a replacement for hand hygiene,” said Dr. Bruce Aylward, WHO Assistant Director-General for Universal Health Coverage and Life Course. “On this World Hand Hygiene Day, let us double down on our commitment and action to improve hand hygiene in health care settings to ensure the safety of patients and health-care workers.”

Hand hygiene remains one of the most effective, affordable, and universal tools in preventing the transmission of infections and ensuring safe, high-quality medical care. While gloves serve a crucial role—particularly in preventing exposure to blood and bodily fluids—WHO emphasizes that they are not foolproof.

Gloves can become contaminated just like bare hands and are often misused. Health-care workers sometimes wear them for extended periods, moving between patients or procedures without changing or cleaning their hands. This behavior not only increases infection risks but also contributes significantly to the global health-care waste burden.

An average university hospital in a developed country generates approximately 1,634 tons of health-care waste annually—the equivalent of more than 360 African elephants. A significant portion of this waste consists of disposable gloves, many of which could have been avoided with better hand hygiene practices.

The economic and environmental costs of poor hand hygiene and improper glove use are substantial. According to WHO, every US$1 invested in hand hygiene can yield up to US$24.60 in economic returns. Yet, 40% of health-care facilities globally still lack basic hand hygiene services at the point of care, leaving an estimated 3.4 billion people at risk.

Additionally, most used gloves are classified as infectious waste and require incineration or specialized disposal methods, straining already overburdened waste management systems—particularly in low-resource settings.

To address these challenges, WHO is urging governments, health-care facilities, and workers to take immediate and coordinated action. Key recommendations include establishing hand hygiene compliance as a national health system performance indicator by 2026; aligning national policies with WHO’s hand hygiene guidelines; training health workers on appropriate glove use and the “Five Moments for Hand Hygiene”; reducing unnecessary glove use to cut health-care waste; and ensuring accessibility to both hand hygiene resources and high-quality gloves.

This year’s World Hand Hygiene Day carries a powerful message: “It might be gloves. It is always hand hygiene.”

With infection prevention more critical than ever, WHO’s reminder serves not just as a call to health-care professionals but to policymakers, facility managers, and global citizens alike: when it comes to stopping the spread of infection, nothing replaces clean hands.