Fewer than one in 10 individuals eligible to benefit from weight-loss injections such as Wegovy can access them, states the WHO as it publishes its first recommendations on the therapies.
Considering over a billion individuals worldwide currently obese, it is calling for more widespread and fairer access to GLP-1 medication.
According to projections, in excess of 2,000,000,000 could be obese by 2030 without intervention.
"The new guidelines affirms that excess weight is a lifelong illness that can be treated with thorough and lifelong support," said the agency's head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Substantial prices, constrained manufacturing, and logistical bottlenecks are significant hurdles to broad availability to the jabs that can aid individuals in losing considerable body mass, notes the agency.
Skinny Jab Supply Crisis
Even under the current best projected case, the supply of GLP-1 therapies could only cover around 100 million people – less than 10% of eligible patients, as stated by the health organization.
The advice calls on nations and manufacturers to widen availability, through strategies such as patent sharing.
Exclusive production rights on semaglutide – the core component of a leading brand – is set to lapse in multiple nations in 2026.
How Weight-Loss Drugs Function
The injections imitate a natural hormone to reduce digestion speed, suppress the appetite and increase the sense of being full so people eat less.
Individuals usually see weight reduction in the initial weeks of starting on the once-weekly jabs.
Evidence suggests people may put most of the weight back on a year later of discontinuing the treatment, because their normal food cravings return.
Being overweight or obese elevates your likelihood for contracting medical conditions, including type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and specific malignancies.
Excess weight affects people in every country and was responsible for millions of fatalities worldwide in 2024, per the health agency.
