6 May 2025, Cairo, Egypt – “It might be gloves. It’s always hand hygiene”, the theme of this year’s World Hand Hygiene Day (WHHD), emphasizing the critical role of hand hygiene as a simple yet powerful and cost-saving infection prevention and control (IPC) intervention, alongside the importance of appropriate glove use and the need to be aware of the environmental impact of gloves on medical waste generation.
Held each year on 5 May, WHHD highlights hand hygiene as a simple yet powerful intervention that can protect patients, health care workers and visitors from harm caused by avoidable health care-associated infections (HAIs).
The Global action plan and monitoring framework (GAPMF) on infection prevention and control (IPC) 2024-2030 sets hand hygiene compliance as a key national indicator, to be established in all reference hospitals by the end of 2026. Currently, just 68% of countries report implementation.
In the Eastern Mediterranean Region an estimated 40% of health care facilities lack basic hygiene services, and 71% lack comprehensive health care waste management services. The statistics underscore the need for investment in water, sanitation, hygiene and waste (WASH) services to improve infection prevention and control implementation.
The World Health Organization (WHO) plays a leading role in promoting hand hygiene practices, not least through the annual WHHD campaign. Among the recommendations WHO is promoting this year are:
optimal hand hygiene practices using the WHO 5 Moments for hand hygiene and appropriate