Under a tenth of people eligible to benefit from obesity jabs such as Wegovy can access them, warns the World Health Organization as it releases its inaugural recommendations on the therapies.
Considering more than one billion people worldwide currently living with obesity, it is calling for broader and more equitable availability to GLP-1 medication.
Based on forecasts, in excess of 2,000,000,000 will be living with obesity by 2030 without intervention.
"The new guidance recognises that excess weight is a chronic disease that can be managed with comprehensive and ongoing support," remarked WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
High costs, limited production capacity, and supply-chain constraints are major hurdles to universal availability to the injections that can help people shift significant body mass, explains the agency.
Weight-Loss Drug Shortage
Even in the present most optimistic outlook, the production of such drugs would only suffice for approximately 100 million people – fewer than 10% of those who need them, according to the health organization.
The advice urges governments and firms to widen access, via approaches such as licensing agreements.
A patent on a key compound – the primary component of a leading brand – is scheduled to end in several countries in 2026.
How Weight-Loss Drugs Operate
The injections mimick a biological compound to reduce digestion speed, curb appetite and increase the sense of being full so people eat less.
Individuals usually start to lose weight after several weeks of beginning the once-weekly jabs.
Research suggests patients may see weight return after a year of halting the treatment, because their typical food cravings resume.
To be above a healthy weight elevates your risk for developing diseases, including type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and certain malignancies.
Obesity concerns people in countries worldwide and was linked to millions of fatalities worldwide in 2024, as per the WHO.
