The Nigeria Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (NCDC) has urged healthcare facilities and professionals to adhere strictly to Infection Prevention and Control (IPC), ensure patients’ safety, and protect healthcare workers in the fight against antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in the country.

The centre emphasised the need for effective hand hygiene in healthcare facilities and warned workers against the misconception that wearing gloves negates the need for hand hygiene.

Speaking at an event to commemorate 2025 World Hand Hygiene Day in Abuja, Head of Disease Prevention and Control at the NCDC, Tochi Okwor, said evidence has proven that hand hygiene is the single most effective intervention for preventing healthcare-associated infections (HAIs), limiting the spread of multidrug-resistant organisms (MDROs), and saving lives.

Okwor observed that hand hygiene is not merely a procedure, but a pillar of the national health security strategy, adding that Hospital Acquired Infections lead to prolonged hospital stays, higher treatment costs, overuse of antibiotics, and preventable deaths.

She said, “Hand hygiene is not just a routine task. It is a clinical standard, moral obligation, and public health imperative. The theme: “It Might Be Gloves. It’s Always Hand Hygiene” addresses a common yet dangerous misconception: that wearing gloves somehow negates the need for hand hygiene. Let us make it clear, gloves are not a substitute for clean hands.”

Okwor noted that misuse of hand gloves or failing to change them between patients, using them for non-clinical tasks, or skipping hand hygiene before and after using gloves becomes a contamination tool rather than protection.

She said that NCDC has established HAI Surveillance Systems to enable real-time detection, monitoring, and targeted response across all levels of care.
Okwor stated that glove stewardship, like antimicrobial stewardship, must be grounded in evidence, risk assessment, and responsible use, adding that it is a priority now embedded in Nigeria’s National IPC Strategic Action Plan and Second National Action Plan on AMR (2024–2028).

Okwor observed that over 393 certified IPC professionals have been trained to lead improvement initiatives across the country, with a draft IPC Legal Framework and operational national, as well as state-level IPC Technical Working Groups ensuring coordination and sustainability.

Also speaking, the Medical Director of Maitama District Hospital, Dr Rita Idemudia, said the issue of hand hygiene is crucial in healthcare facilities, adding that more than 60 per cent of infectious diseases can be prevented through effective hand hygiene.

In her remarks, FCT Mandate Secretary, Health and Environment Secretariat, Dr Adedolapo Fasawe, emphasised the need for regular audits of health facilities to ensure adherence to IPC protocols.

Fasawe, who was represented by Osagie Osawade, blamed the lack of basic hand hygiene practices on attitudinal problems and called for attitudinal change among Nigerians.

She said, “Surprisingly, in 2025, we are still reminding people about hand washing and disease prevention. It’s not that there’s a shortage of water; I don’t know whether it’s an attitudinal problem. But if there’s a pandemic, everybody will start washing their hands, people will be moving around with hand sanitisers in their pockets, but once the emergency is over, everybody goes back to their usual habits.”