Fewer than one in 10 individuals who could benefit from obesity jabs like Wegovy can access them, warns the World Health Organization as it issues its first guidance on the medications.
Given in excess of 1,000,000,000 people worldwide now living with obesity, it is urging broader and more equitable access to these injectable treatments.
According to estimates, more than two billion are projected to be living with obesity by 2030 if no action is taken.
"The new guidelines affirms that excess weight is a lifelong illness that can be managed with comprehensive and ongoing care," remarked WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
High costs, insufficient output, and supply-chain constraints are major barriers to universal access to the jabs that can help people shift significant body mass, says the body.
GLP-1 Therapy Scarcity
Even under the present most optimistic case, the manufacturing of such drugs would only suffice for about 100 million people – less than 10% of the global need, as stated by the WHO.
The advice urges nations and manufacturers to expand access, through strategies such as voluntary licensing.
Exclusive production rights on a key compound – the primary component of a leading brand – is scheduled to end in a number of nations in 2026.
How Weight-Loss Injections Operate
GLP-1 drugs replicate a natural hormone to reduce digestion speed, suppress the appetite and enhance the sense of being full so individuals consume fewer calories.
People usually start to lose weight within a few weeks of commencing the weekly injections.
Research points to people may see weight return a year later of stopping the drug, as their usual food cravings return.
To be carrying excess weight elevates your likelihood for contracting medical conditions, like type 2 diabetes, heart disease, brain attack, and certain malignancies.
Excess weight concerns individuals in countries worldwide and was responsible for over three and a half million deaths worldwide in 2024, according to the WHO.
