Under a tenth of individuals eligible to benefit from weight-loss injections like Wegovy are able to get them, warns the global health agency as it issues its inaugural advice on the therapies.
Considering over a billion people worldwide currently living with obesity, it is calling for broader and more equitable access to GLP-1 medication.
Per projections, more than two billion are projected to be living with obesity by 2030 without intervention.
"The latest guidelines recognises that excess weight is a lifelong illness that can be managed with holistic and continuous care," said the agency's head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Significant expense, insufficient output, and distribution challenges are major hurdles to broad access to the jabs that can assist patients in reducing significant weight, explains the organization.
Skinny Jab Shortage
Even in the current most optimistic outlook, the production of such drugs could only cover around 100 million people – under 10% of eligible patients, according to the health organization.
The guideline encourages governments and firms to widen availability, by approaches such as licensing agreements.
The intellectual property rights on semaglutide – the core component of the drug Wegovy – is due to expire in several countries in 2026.
How Weight-Loss Drugs Operate
GLP-1 drugs imitate a natural hormone to delay gastric emptying, suppress the appetite and enhance the sense of being full so users eat less.
Patients usually begin shedding pounds within a few weeks of beginning the regular doses.
Studies suggests people may see weight return within a year of discontinuing the treatment, because their usual hunger resume.
To be overweight or obese increases your chance for contracting diseases, like type 2 diabetes, heart disease, brain attack, and specific malignancies.
Excess weight impacts people in every country and was responsible for over three and a half million fatalities worldwide in 2024, according to the WHO.
