World Hand Hygiene Day 2026
Each year the World Health Organization (WHO) SAVE LIVES: Clean Your Hands campaign spotlights the importance of hand hygiene in health and care. The core message of SAVE LIVES: Clean Your Hands is that all health and care workers should clean their hands at the right time and in the right way.
In this, the 18th year of World Hand Hygiene Day, WHO calls on all those providing and supporting health care to refresh their action on hand hygiene and Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) to ensure patient and staff safety.
Hand hygiene saves millions of lives every year when performed at the right times and can be preferable to gloves, for multiple reasons when they are not clinically required. Studies show that use of non-sterile can increase the potential for cross-contamination and transmission of healthcare-associated infections. This is because they are often used when they aren't needed, put on too early, taken off too late or not changed at critical points. Additionally, research shows that patients often feel uncomfortable with inappropriate use of gloves for personal tasks.
At First Community we launched a 'To glove or not to glove' campaign, at our minor injuries unit and Caterham Dene Hospital ward, improving hand hygiene and cutting costs.
Safe reduction in glove use improved hand hygiene compliance, reducing the risk of infection transmission between staff, patients, and clinical surfaces. Staff wellbeing also benefitted as glove use can cause skin irritation such as contact dermatitis.
We measured both procurement of gloves and clinical waste to test the effectiveness of the campaign. Both reduced significantly:
- In our Minor Injury Unit, the reduction in gloves purchased equated to 534.56 kgCO2e (59.9% reduction) and clinical waste reduced in weight by 71.96kg delivering further carbon savings from waste disposal
- At Caterham Dene Hospital ward glove procurement dropped 79.5% saving 2240.42kg of C02 with clinical waste shrinking by 301.60kg
If you're interested in finding out more about what First Community is doing to cut waste and save money, you can read our Green Plan here.