Fewer than a tenth of patients who could benefit from obesity jabs including Wegovy are able to get them, warns the global health agency as it publishes its first recommendations on the drugs.
Given over a billion people worldwide now living with obesity, it is urging increased and just availability to GLP-1 medication.
Based on estimates, in excess of 2,000,000,000 are projected to be obese by 2030 without intervention.
"Our latest guidance recognises that excess weight is a lifelong illness that can be treated with comprehensive and continuous treatment," stated its chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Substantial prices, limited production capacity, and logistical bottlenecks are key obstacles to universal availability to the injections that can assist patients in reducing substantial weight, says the agency.
Weight-Loss Drug Shortage
Even under the present best projected outlook, the production of these medications might only reach around 100 million people – fewer than 10% of the global need, per the WHO.
The advice urges nations and manufacturers to widen availability, by approaches such as patent sharing.
A patent on the active ingredient – the primary component of the drug Wegovy – is due to expire in several nations in 2026.
The Way Weight-Loss Jabs Work
The injections replicate a body's own hormone to delay gastric emptying, curb appetite and boost feelings of fullness so users consume fewer calories.
People typically start to lose weight in the initial weeks of starting on the regular doses.
Studies points to people may put most of the weight back on a year later of halting the drug, as their usual hunger come back.
To be above a healthy weight increases your likelihood for developing health problems, such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease, brain attack, and some cancers.
Obesity concerns individuals in all nations and was responsible for millions of deaths worldwide in 2024, per the WHO.
