World Hand Hygiene Day 2025 emphasizes the importance of proper hand hygiene in healthcare settings. The theme, “It might be gloves. It’s always hand hygiene,” highlights that while gloves are commonly used, they do not replace the need for hand hygiene.
The campaign, led by the World Health Organization (WHO), aims to promote optimal hand hygiene practices, raise awareness about the environmental impact of excessive glove use, and encourage healthcare facilities to prioritize infection prevention and control (IPC). By 2026, hand hygiene compliance monitoring is expected to be a key national indicator in reference hospitals.
You’re absolutely right—while gloves are a critical barrier to reduce direct contamination, they’re not a substitute for thorough hand hygiene. Here’s why both are essential:
- Glove Limitations: Gloves can develop microscopic tears or become contaminated during use. Even when wearing gloves, pathogens can sometimes be transferred if proper techniques aren’t observed.
- Hand Hygiene Before and After: Washing hands or using an alcohol-based hand sanitizer before putting on gloves prevents transferring microbes to the gloves. After removing them, hand hygiene ensures any residual pathogens or contamination from the glove removal process are eliminated.
- Barrier Plus Hygiene Approach: Gloves and hand hygiene complement each other. Think of gloves as an extra barrier—hand hygiene is the first and last line of defense in infection control.
Deeper Insights into the 2025 Theme
Insight No: 1
Medical gloves are used in healthcare and are defined as disposable gloves used during medical procedures. These gloves can get contaminated as easily as bare hands and do not protect 100%. When worn, gloves should be removed, for example, after touching a patient and hand hygiene performed immediately as per the WHO 5 Moments for Hand Hygiene.
Insight No: 2
Regardless of whether gloves are worn, hand hygiene at the right times and in the right way is still one of the most important measures to protect patients and health workers in healthcare. By 2026, hand hygiene compliance monitoring and feedback should be established as a key national indicator, at the very least in all reference hospitals. Currently 68% of countries report they are doing this.
Insight No: 3
Excessive glove use contributes significantly to the volume of health care waste. Appropriate glove use and hand hygiene can help minimize this waste. Using gloves when not indicated wastes resources and does not necessarily reduce transmission of germs. An average university hospital generates 1,634 tons of health care waste each year and this number is increasing 2-3% per year (especially since COVID-19); wealthier countries generate more waste.
Objectives of 2025 Theme
- Promote optimal hand hygiene practices (using the appropriate technique and according to the WHO 5 Moments) and the times for appropriate glove use within the health care workflow.
- Promote inclusion of hand hygiene within national IPC strategies, as well as standard operating procedures (SOPs) at facility level, according to the recommendations of the WHO global action plan and monitoring framework 2024-2030.
- Raise awareness of the environmental and climate impact of gloves on waste generation and management, especially when used unnecessarily.
2025 Key Goals:
- Promote proper hand hygiene technique according to WHO’s 5 Moments for Hand Hygiene
- Raise awareness of when glove use is truly necessary in healthcare
- Encourage hand hygiene integration in national IPC strategies
- Highlight the environmental impact of unnecessary glove use and waste generation
Framework for Tragetted Hand Hygiene Compliance in Current Trends
This framework provides a science-based, context-sensitive guide to minimize infection risk at critical points during care delivery.
1. Innovation and Behavioral Change
Recent advancements in promoting hand hygiene practiced in the COVID-19 pandemic globally include:
- Alcohol-based hand Rub (60%) formulations are recommended by WHO.
- Sensor-based hand hygiene monitoring systems in hospitals.
- Behavioral change prompts and Communication material, such as visual cues and leadership modeling, significantly improve hand hygiene adherence.
2. AI & Generation Hand Hygiene Innovations
With AI adoption across the world, the healthcare industry has accelerated, through the introduction of exciting scientific Innovations that guide how we approach hand hygiene in the healthcare system:
- AI-Powered Hygiene Monitoring smart sensors, which improve compliance and infection control with real-time feedback.
- Advanced AI-driven sensor technology transforming healthcare environments.
- Sustainable, Waterless Hygiene Solutions
- With global water scarcity rising, waterless hand hygiene innovations, like biodegradable alcohol- based formulations and antimicrobial dry hand wipes
- UV-Based Hand Disinfection machines that kill bacteria and viruses
- Smart Dispensers & Internet of Things (IoT) Hygiene Compliance accessories track sanitization rates amongst healthcare personnel.
3. Forward Thinking
- Policy Strengthening: National IPC guidelines should prioritize hand hygiene as a mandatory performance indicator.
- Infrastructure Investment: Ensuring continuous availability of ABHR, soap, and water at all healthcare and public facilities.
- Capacity Building: Regular IPC training and refresher courses for healthcare workers.
- Community Engagement: Public campaigns, especially in areas with maximum exposure like schools, malls, and transport hubs, to instill lifelong hand hygiene habits.
- Monitoring and Evaluation: Establish hand hygiene auditing systems at national and sub-national levels with clear benchmarks.
Special Considerations
The World Hand Hygiene Day 2025 campaign, “It might be gloves. It’s always hand hygiene,” emphasizes that gloves do not replace proper hand hygiene. Here are some special considerations for this initiative:
- Hand Hygiene Compliance: By 2026, hand hygiene compliance monitoring should be a key national indicator in reference hospitals.
- Glove Use Awareness: Gloves can become contaminated just like bare hands. They should be removed after patient contact, and hand hygiene should be performed immediately.
- Reducing Healthcare Waste: Excessive glove use contributes to medical waste. Proper glove use and hand hygiene can help minimize environmental impact.
- Economic Benefits: Every $1 invested in hand hygiene can yield up to $24.6 in economic returns, making it a cost-effective intervention.
- Global Health Impact: Two in five healthcare facilities still lack basic hand hygiene services, putting 3.4 billion people at risk
REFERENCES
- WHO, World hand Hygiene Day 2025, It Might Be Gloves. It’s Always Hand Hygiene, Retrieved from https://www.who.int/campaigns/world-hand-hygiene-day/2025
- Jyoti Shrestha, It Might Be Gloves. It’s Always Hand Hygiene: World Hand Hygiene Day 2025, Retrived from https://wfsahq.org/news/it-might-be-gloves-its-always-hand-hygiene-world-hand-hygiene-day-2025/
- Nadia Noreen & Nelisiwe Mhlabane, World Hand Hygiene Day: Science, Significance, and the Global Call to Action, International Society for Infectious Diseases. Retrieved from https://isid.org/worldhandhygieneday2025/
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