The development of disposable gloves and the discovery that good hand hygiene are essential for protecting patients are among the most important developments in the history of infection prevention and control, and are both essential for protecting patients and healthcare workers.," say Peters, et al. (2025) Although there are international-level guidelines for glove use and hand hygiene during patient care, there are major issues concerning compliance. The overuse of gloving does not only contribute to reduced patient safety and increased healthcare-associated infections, but leads directly to environmental degradation and labor rights abuses.

As the authors explain, "The World Health Organization (WHO) World Hand Hygiene Day 2025 is focused on the proper use of disposable gloves during patient care. The development of disposable gloves and the discovery that good hand hygiene is essential for lowering rates of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) are among the most important developments in the history of infection prevention and control, and are both essential for protecting patients and healthcare workers (HCWs). Although there are international-level guidelines for glove use and hand hygiene during patient care, there are major issues concerning proper use and compliance. While appropriate gloving increases the safety of both patients and HCWs, inappropriate gloving and their overuse has led to a patient safety crisis of global proportions."

They add, "Not only does improper gloving contribute to reduced patient safety and increased HAIs, but their overuse leads to environmental degradation and supports labor rights abuses. This is due to the intrinsic nature of the plastics used in their construction, how and where gloves are manufactured, how they are distributed globally, and how they are discarded. In England alone, an average of more than 500 million gloves were sent for use in the National Health Service and social care per month in 2023, which translates to 16.7 million gloves per day. Although gloves are essential to modern medicine, their misuse and overuse mean that gloving often does more harm than good."

Peters A, et al. Improper glove use increases infection risk and has global consequences. Antimicrobial Resistance & Infection Control. Volume 14, article number 52 (2025).