Less than a tenth of individuals eligible to benefit from weight-loss injections like Wegovy can access them, warns the WHO as it publishes its inaugural recommendations on the medications.
Considering more than one billion individuals worldwide now living with obesity, it is calling for broader and more equitable availability to this class of drugs.
Per forecasts, over two billion could be obese by 2030 without intervention.
"The latest guidance recognises that obesity is a long-term condition that can be addressed with holistic and ongoing care," remarked its chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Significant expense, constrained manufacturing, and supply-chain constraints are significant barriers to broad access to the jabs that can assist patients in reducing considerable body mass, explains the body.
Weight-Loss Drug Scarcity
Even under the current most optimistic outlook, the production of GLP-1 therapies might only reach about 100 million people – less than 10% of eligible patients, per the WHO.
The advice encourages governments and firms to increase access, by measures such as voluntary licensing.
The intellectual property rights on the active ingredient – the main component of a leading brand – is set to lapse in several countries in 2026.
The Way Weight-Loss Jabs Function
GLP-1 drugs replicate a body's own hormone to slow digestion, suppress the appetite and enhance feelings of fullness so individuals consume fewer calories.
People commonly start to lose weight within a few weeks of commencing the weekly injections.
Research indicates patients may put most of the weight back on a year later of stopping the drug, as their usual appetite come back.
To be carrying excess weight elevates your risk for experiencing health problems, such as diabetes, heart disease, brain attack, and certain malignancies.
Excess weight concerns people in every country and was responsible for millions of deaths worldwide in 2024, according to the health agency.
