Fewer than 10% of patients eligible to benefit from weight-loss injections like Wegovy have access to them, warns the WHO as it issues its initial recommendations on the therapies.
Considering over a billion individuals worldwide now obese, it is advocating for more widespread and fairer access to GLP-1 medication.
Based on forecasts, more than two billion could be obese by 2030 unless action is taken.
"Our new guidance acknowledges that excess weight is a long-term condition that can be treated with comprehensive and continuous support," stated the agency's head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Substantial prices, limited production capacity, and logistical bottlenecks are significant barriers to broad availability to the injections that can aid individuals in losing considerable weight, explains the organization.
Weight-Loss Drug Shortage
Even in the present most favorable outlook, the manufacturing of these medications would only suffice for about 100 million people – fewer than 10% of those who need them, per the WHO.
The guideline calls on governments and firms to widen availability, by strategies such as licensing agreements.
The intellectual property rights on semaglutide – the core ingredient of a leading brand – is due to expire in multiple nations in 2026.
How Obesity Injections Operate
The injections imitate a body's own hormone to reduce digestion speed, suppress the appetite and increase the sense of being full so people eat less.
Individuals commonly begin shedding pounds after several weeks of beginning the once-weekly jabs.
Research suggests users may put most of the weight back on after a year of halting the medication, when their normal food cravings come back.
To be above a healthy weight elevates your chance for contracting diseases, such as diabetes, heart disease, brain attack, and some malignancies.
Excess weight affects individuals in countries worldwide and was associated with 3.7 million fatalities worldwide in 2024, according to the health agency.
