How the Global Demand for Medical Gloves Has Evolved Since 2020

Since 2020, ZP Mediheal’s journey to meet the increasing global demand for medical gloves has been a defining one. We have been witness and participants in changes that defined our offering and the way healthcare and society has evolved in meeting a new standard of PPE (personal protective equipment) since the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic when the world understood the vital importance of PPE.

Increase in Demand During Covid-19

The medical gloves market experienced explosive growth in 2020 as COVID-19 spread rapidly around the world. The urgent need to protect patients, healthcare workforce, and frontline responders from the virus spurred demand for disposable gloves the world had not previously experienced; all related healthcare industries including hospitals, clinics, labs, and even non healthcare providers increased glove use exponentially. At ZP Mediheal, the focus was on capacity expansion and product design to meet increased demand while not sacrificing quality, safety, or efficacy.

Post-Pandemic Market Evolution

After the peak of pandemic life, the initial panic driven demand receded but never vanished. There was a new baseline for glove consumption. The healthcare sector had a deep it into an awareness of infection prevention and glove use remained ingrained and high. Globally growing healthcare infrastructure, especially in developing countries, continued to further drive demand. This represented an evolution in purchasing from reactive buying to sustained quality oriented purchasing.

Factors Propelling Continued Growth

A number of factors initiated global demand evolution in light of constraints from 2021:

• Increased Medical Procedures: More surgical and outpatient procedures became practical creating a result of glove consumption worldwide. As there were more surgical and outpatient procedures this had a bearing on requirements for sterile single use gloves.
• Hygiene and Safety Consciousness: There are many higher hygiene requirements post pandemic; therefore, disposable gloves has become a standard item across all hospitals, clinics, and laboratories to alleviate cross contamination.
• Regulatory and Quality Requirements: There were more regulations globally, with requirements for certification through ISO or EN, creating more adoption of high quality gloves due to the quality assurance requirements. This increased demand for gloves from reliable manufacturers such as ZP Mediheal.
• Change in Materials Market: Due to concerns about allergies in users of latex gloves, and better durability with nitrile gloves; many markets moved quickly toward nitrile or synthetic materials. ZP Mediheal is positioned well in this market.
• Expansion of District Market: Predicate demand continues through various regions, and geography such as Asia Pacific and Middle East saw explosive demand elevated through expansion of healthcare infrastructure, and duplicable demand from population.

Challenges of Changes in the Industry

The rapid growth in demand created challenges for shortages of raw products, supply chain challenges, and of course scrutiny from regulatory agencies. ZP Mediheal made adjustments to their business operations by streamlining their supply chain, sourcing sustainable materials, and continuing their vigilance of quality control to ensure reliability of their products. The industry also had to quickly innovate to reduce dependence upon powdered gloves out of health concerns for uniformity and to maximize ergonomics and comfort to provide for prolonged use by the medical professionals that utilize them.

The Future

ZP Mediheal believes the global medical gloves market will continue its trajectory of growth driven by increased investment into healthcare, infection control protocols and medical glove technology. ZP Mediheal is dedicated to meeting the growing demands of the market enabling product innovations based on safety, sustainability and comfort.

Overall, since 2020, worldwide demand for medical gloves has changed from a large and sudden spike associated with a global pandemic to a steady state of growth driven by improved education and awareness around the control of infection, regulatory and compliance matters, and improved access to specific types of care acts.

As a reminder, the demand partners were seeing in 2020 was mostly associated with the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, where we saw an unprecedented increase in demand for single use gloves to manage the risk of transmission of COVID-19 associated with sharing a pen to sign your name or grabbing a door handle. Care providers, frontline care providers and workers and even everyday employees were adopted more hygienic routines and practices due to the risk of exposure or transmission of infectious diseases during the time of COVID-19. ZP Mediheal stepped up its innovations and production capabilities to support the increased demand.

In the post Covid world, the underlying demand pattern returned more stability, but well above pre pandemic levels. The increased sensitivity around infection prevention and increased healthcare infrastructure in parts of the world, especially in emerging markets, provided ongoing support to demand for gloves. The increase in surgical operations and outpatient services has continued to underpin an ongoing need for sterile, quality gloves.

There were a number of trends that contributed to this changing pattern in demand. Healthcare providers are shifting from using latex gloves to nitrile gloves quickly, due to issues around perforation and allergies. Major bodies enforced tougher global safety measures which forced healthcare providers to source/stock certified gloves, an area ZP Mediheal’s commitment to ISO / FDA compliance increases confidence in. Parts of the Asia Pacific, along with the Middle East, have been experiencing continued rapid market growth due to healthcare investment and population growth.

Despite challenges such as raw material shortages, supply chain issues, and inflation, ZP Mediheal has emerged successfully through prudent material sourcing and lean manufacturing that utilizes the latest principles around safety and sustainability. ZP Mediheal remains dedicated to this evolution, delivering trusted products that protect caregivers and patients worldwide with uncompromising quality and innovation.