Less than 10% of patients eligible to benefit from weight-loss injections like Wegovy have access to them, states the WHO as it issues its inaugural advice on the medications.
Given more than one billion people worldwide currently living with obesity, it is urging more widespread and fairer availability to GLP-1 medication.
According to estimates, over two billion will be obese by 2030 if no action is taken.
"Our latest guidelines affirms that excess weight is a long-term condition that can be managed with comprehensive and continuous treatment," remarked its chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
High costs, constrained manufacturing, and distribution challenges are significant barriers to broad access to the treatments that can help people shift significant weight, notes the body.
Skinny Jab Shortage
Even under the present most favorable scenario, the production of these medications could only cover approximately 100 million people – fewer than 10% of those who need them, per the WHO.
The recommendation calls on countries and companies to widen access, through strategies including licensing agreements.
Exclusive production rights on semaglutide – the core component of the drug Wegovy – is set to lapse in a number of nations in 2026.
The Way Weight-Loss Injections Operate
These medications imitate a natural hormone to delay gastric emptying, reduce hunger and boost feelings of fullness so people reduce food intake.
People typically begin shedding pounds within a few weeks of commencing the weekly injections.
Research points to people may put most of the weight back on after a year of discontinuing the drug, when their typical hunger come back.
Being above a healthy weight elevates your chance for developing health problems, such as diabetes, heart disease, brain attack, and some malignancies.
Excess weight affects people in all nations and was associated with 3.7 million fatalities worldwide in 2024, according to the WHO.
