WHO Says Gloves Do Not Substitute For Hand Washing

Hand hygiene is one of the most effective, affordable, and universal tools the industry has to prevent the transmission of infections and provide high-quality, clean, and safe medical care, the World Health Organization (WHO) said.

While medical gloves serve a vital role in preventing transmission of infection, for example when there is risk of exposure to blood and body fluids, they are not a substitute for cleaning hands at the right time. On World Hand Hygiene Day, the WHO urged governments, healthcare facilities, and frontline workers globally to reinforce hand hygiene practices—a proven, cost-effective intervention to protect both patients and healthcare workers.

“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, universal health coverage, life course. “Let us double down on our commitment and action to improve hand hygiene in healthcare settings to ensure the safety of patients and healthcare workers.”

Hand hygiene saves lives and money along with reducing waste by:

• Every US$1 invested in hand hygiene can yield up to $24.6 in economic returns.
• Yet, two in five healthcare facilities still lack basic hand hygiene services where care is provided—putting 3.4 billion people at risk.
• Improper glove use not only undermines infection prevention and control practices, it also adds significantly to healthcare waste. Much of this waste can be avoided by maintaining hand hygiene and using gloves only when necessary.

Gloves can become contaminated just like hands and are often misused, such as being worn indefinitely while health workers switch between patients or when they are performing multiple procedures for the same patient. Additionally, overuse of gloves contributes to environmental degradation.

An average university hospital in a developed country generates 1,634 tons of healthcare waste each year, which is equivalent to over 360 African elephants. Most used gloves are considered infectious and require high-temperature incineration or specialized treatment, adding strain to already burdened waste management systems.

WHO urged national policymakers and the healthcare community to take the following actions to improve glove use and hand hygiene in healthcare settings:

• Establish hand hygiene compliance as a national health system performance indicator by 2026 in line with the Global action plan and monitoring framework on infection prevention and control (IPC), 2024-2030.
• Align national efforts on hand hygiene with the WHO guidelines on hand hygiene in healthcare.
• Train health workers on appropriate use of gloves using WHO guidance: the five moments for hand hygiene.
• Focus on reducing unnecessary glove use to minimize healthcare waste; provide the necessary resources to enable hand hygiene to be practiced at the point of care.
• Prevent glove misuse by keeping enough good-quality gloves accessible.