Unable To Replace Hand Hygiene, WHO Reminds Use Of Medical Hand Sarves

Media gloves (istockphoto)

JAKARTA - Hand hygiene is important and must be maintained by everyone. This is because with clean hands, we can prevent infection.

In the medical world, hand hygiene is said to be manageable by using gloves. Tanga sarong plays an important role in preventing infection, for example when there is a risk of being exposed to blood and liquid while helping patients.

However, the World Health Organization (WHO) emphasized that medical gloves cannot fully replace cleanliness from their own hands.

"Medical backs can reduce the risk of infection, but it has never been a substitute for hand hygiene," said Dr. Bruce Aylward, WHO Assistant Director-General, Universal Health Coverage, Life Course, quoted from the WHO's official website, on Friday, May 8, 2025.

Therefore, on World Hand Cleaning Day, WHO invites governments of various countries, health care facilities, and medical personnel around the world to strengthen the practice of hand hygiene. This is proven to be able to better protect patients and health workers.

"Let's double our commitments and actions to improve hand hygiene in health settings to ensure the safety of patients and health workers," he explained.

As is known, gloves can be contaminated and often misused. As used indefinitely when health workers switch from one patient to another, which can cause transmission without realizing it.

In addition, the use of excess gloves also contributes to environmental degradation. The average university hospital in developed countries produces 1634 tons of health care waste every year.

Most of the waste can be avoided if the gloves are properly used and the hygiene of the hands is well practiced. Therefore, it is very important to maintain hand hygiene at all times.