Health workers have been reminded of the essence of hand hygiene, especially after using gloves as a means of preventing the spread of infectious diseases in hospital environments.
Some stakeholders stressed the importance at an event at the University of Benin Teaching Hospital to mark 2025 World Hand Hygiene Day.
The event was organized by the Infection Prevention Control Committee of the hospital.
Declaring the event open, the Chief Medical Director, UBTH, Professor Darlington Obaseki, explained that the day was set aside to create awareness on the essence of handwashing and how infections are spread through the hands and passed between healthcare workers to patients and patients to the community.
He frowned at the misuse of gloves by healthcare workers and waste, stressing that gloves give full protection to health workers.
Professor Obaseki further stated that the management of the hospital has constantly put measures in place to ensure prevention of diseases in the hospital and promote hand hygiene.
The guest speaker and Head of the Department of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Dr. Tochi Okwor harped on the need for everyone to imbibe a handwashing culture, as every opportunity to clean the hands, saves lives.
Dr Okwor, chairman of the National Antimicrobial Resistance Coordination Committee, noted that Nigeria has made remarkable progress in stemming and controlling infectious diseases in the country.
Dr Okwor who is also the coordinator national infection prevention control programme at NCDC, maintained that the National Centre for Disease Control, NCDC, remains resolute in the fight against infectious disease in the country.
Also speaking, former manager and nurse in Burns and Plastic unit, UBTH, Mrs. Edith Uwugiaren noted that the use of gloves was essential in health care but has been abused by many health workers, thereby undermining infection prevention.
She also stressed the need for health workers to protect themselves against infectious diseases by cleaning their hands always after glove use and to ensure proper disposal of them.
The theme of the 2025 World Hand Hygiene Day is “It might be gloves; it’s always hand hygiene.”
