Fewer than one in 10 people who could benefit from obesity jabs including Wegovy can access them, warns the global health agency as it releases its initial guidance on the medications.
With in excess of 1,000,000,000 people worldwide now living with obesity, it is calling for increased and just availability to these injectable treatments.
According to estimates, more than two billion are projected to be obese by 2030 without intervention.
"The new guidelines acknowledges that obesity is a lifelong illness that can be addressed with comprehensive and continuous support," stated WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
High costs, limited production capacity, and supply-chain constraints are key hurdles to widespread availability to the treatments that can help people shift substantial body mass, notes the organization.
Weight-Loss Drug Scarcity
Even under the current best projected case, the manufacturing of GLP-1 therapies could only cover around 100 million people – under 10% of eligible patients, according to the health organization.
The guideline encourages governments and firms to increase availability, by approaches like patent sharing.
The intellectual property rights on the active ingredient – the main component of the drug Wegovy – is scheduled to end in a number of nations in 2026.
How Obesity Injections Function
These medications imitate a body's own hormone to slow digestion, curb appetite and enhance satiety so people consume fewer calories.
Patients typically begin shedding pounds after several weeks of starting on the once-weekly jabs.
Evidence suggests patients may put most of the weight back on within a year of stopping the drug, because their usual hunger resume.
To be above a healthy weight elevates your chance for experiencing diseases, like type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and some cancers.
Obesity concerns people in all nations and was linked to 3.7 million deaths worldwide in 2024, per the health agency.
