Fewer than one in 10 individuals eligible to benefit from obesity jabs like Wegovy can access them, caution the global health agency as it publishes its first recommendations on the medications.
With over a billion individuals worldwide currently obese, it is calling for broader and more equitable access to these injectable treatments.
According to forecasts, in excess of 2,000,000,000 are projected to be living with obesity by 2030 unless action is taken.
"The new guidance recognises that obesity is a chronic disease that can be addressed with thorough and continuous support," stated WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Substantial prices, insufficient output, and distribution challenges are significant hurdles to universal availability to the injections that can assist patients in reducing significant weight, notes the agency.
Weight-Loss Drug Shortage
Even under the present best projected scenario, the production of such drugs might only reach approximately 100 million people – under 10% of those who need them, per the WHO.
The advice calls on nations and manufacturers to expand access, via strategies including patent sharing.
The intellectual property rights on a key compound – the core component of the drug Wegovy – is scheduled to end in multiple nations in 2026.
How Weight-Loss Injections Work
GLP-1 drugs imitate a biological compound to slow digestion, reduce hunger and boost satiety so individuals consume fewer calories.
Patients typically see weight reduction in the initial weeks of commencing the once-weekly jabs.
Research points to patients may regain a significant portion a year later of discontinuing the drug, when their usual hunger come back.
Being carrying excess weight elevates your risk for contracting medical conditions, such as type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular issues, stroke, and some malignancies.
Obesity affects individuals in countries worldwide and was responsible for over three and a half million fatalities worldwide in 2024, as per the WHO.
