Why Gloves Aren’t Enough: WHO’s 2025 Hand Hygiene Reminder
Reinforcing the Role of Hand Hygiene—Gloved or Not
At B4 Brands, our mission has always been clear: to protect people through effective, responsible hand hygiene. So when the World Health Organization (WHO) released its theme for World Hand Hygiene Day 2025, we paid close attention.
“It might be gloves, it’s always hand hygiene.”
This timely reminder reinforces a message we’ve long supported: gloves are not a replacement for clean hands. And in healthcare, schools, offices, and foodservice environments, that distinction matters more than ever.
🧤 The Glove Misconception
Gloves serve an important purpose. But they can also create a false sense of protection. In fact, glove misuse—without proper handwashing before and after—can increase the spread of germs.
WHO emphasizes that:
- Gloves can become contaminated, just like hands
- Without hand hygiene, glove use alone is not effective
- Proper handwashing should always occur before donning gloves and immediately after removing them
Gloves may block direct contact, but they don’t replace the need to kill pathogens.
🌍 WHO’s 2025 Call to Action
The 2025 campaign is focused on reminding professionals and institutions that effective infection prevention starts at the hands—gloved or not. WHO highlights the following:
- Glove use ≠ hand hygiene. Washing or sanitizing hands is still essential.
- Infrastructure matters. Every facility must ensure easy access to soap, water, and alcohol-based hand rubs.
- Compliance requires visibility. Hand hygiene products must be prominently placed, easy to access, and part of daily habits.
This is where we come in.
✋ How B4 Brands Supports This Mission
B4 Brands has long championed safe, effective, and environmentally responsible hand hygiene—especially in professional and institutional settings where compliance saves lives.
- Avant® Hand Sanitizers provide fast-acting, skin-friendly formulas with 60–70% alcohol to ensure effectiveness.
- Aterra® Hand Soaps offer gentle cleansing with no added dyes or fragrances—ideal for repeated handwashing before or after glove use.
- Touch-Free and Manual Dispensers make it easy to follow through with hand hygiene protocols—whether gloved or bare-handed.
We design every product with one goal in mind: Empowering cleaner hands for a healthier world.
🏥 From Exam Rooms to Classrooms: Every Glove Has a Story
Whether you’re a school nurse checking in students, a dental hygienist prepping for a cleaning, or a foodservice worker managing inventory—gloves are part of your job.
But if you’re not pairing gloves with proper hand hygiene? You’re missing a critical step.
Let’s take WHO’s message to heart:
“It might be gloves, but it’s always hand hygiene.”
✅ What You Can Do Right Now
- Educate your team about proper glove protocols and hand hygiene timing.
- Audit your facility’s access points: are hand sanitizers and soap dispensers easy to find and properly stocked?
- Upgrade to reliable, eco-conscious solutions from B4 Brands that support compliance without compromise.
Because It’s Always Been About the Hands
At B4 Brands, we’ve always understood one thing: real protection starts where the pathogens land—on your hands.
Let’s make 2025 the year we stop confusing gloves for good habits. Because when it comes to hygiene, gloves are part of the solution. But they’re not the whole story.
Hand hygiene is. And always will be.
🧼 Explore Our Hand Hygiene Solutions