Under one in 10 patients eligible to benefit from obesity jabs including Wegovy have access to them, states the WHO as it releases its initial advice on the medications.
With over a billion people worldwide currently living with obesity, it is urging broader and more equitable availability to GLP-1 medication.
Based on forecasts, more than two billion will be living with obesity by 2030 unless action is taken.
"The new guidance recognises that excess weight is a lifelong illness that can be treated with thorough and continuous care," stated the agency's head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Significant expense, insufficient output, and supply-chain constraints are significant obstacles to universal access to the jabs that can aid individuals in losing significant weight, says the body.
GLP-1 Therapy Scarcity
Even in the current most optimistic outlook, the manufacturing of GLP-1 therapies could only cover around 100 million people – under 10% of the global need, according to the health organization.
The advice urges countries and companies to widen access, via strategies like voluntary licensing.
A patent on semaglutide – the core component of a leading brand – is set to lapse in multiple nations in 2026.
How Obesity Drugs Operate
The injections imitate a body's own hormone to reduce digestion speed, suppress the appetite and enhance feelings of fullness so people consume fewer calories.
Patients typically begin shedding pounds in the initial weeks of commencing the once-weekly jabs.
Studies indicates patients may put most of the weight back on within a year of halting the treatment, because their usual appetite resume.
Being carrying excess weight raises your chance for developing diseases, like diabetes, heart disease, brain attack, and certain malignancies.
Obesity concerns people in all nations and was linked to millions of deaths worldwide in 2024, as per the WHO.
