Under 10% of patients who could benefit from weight-loss injections such as Wegovy have access to them, warns the WHO as it releases its initial guidance on the drugs.
Given more than one billion people worldwide currently obese, it is advocating for more widespread and fairer availability to these injectable treatments.
Based on forecasts, in excess of 2,000,000,000 could be obese by 2030 without intervention.
"Our new guidance acknowledges that obesity is a chronic disease that can be treated with thorough and continuous care," stated WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Significant expense, insufficient output, and logistical bottlenecks are major hurdles to universal availability to the injections that can aid individuals in losing significant body mass, notes the organization.
Weight-Loss Drug Scarcity
Despite the current most optimistic scenario, the production of these medications would only suffice for around 100 million people – under 10% of the global need, per the WHO.
The guideline calls on countries and companies to widen access, by measures like patent sharing.
Exclusive production rights on the active ingredient – the primary component of Novo Nordisk's Wegovy – is due to expire in multiple nations in 2026.
The Way Weight-Loss Injections Operate
GLP-1 drugs mimick a body's own hormone to reduce digestion speed, curb appetite and enhance feelings of fullness so users consume fewer calories.
People commonly start to lose weight in the initial weeks of commencing the once-weekly jabs.
Evidence points to people may see weight return within a year of stopping the drug, because their typical hunger come back.
To be overweight or obese elevates your chance for experiencing health problems, like type 2 diabetes, heart disease, brain attack, and certain malignancies.
Obesity affects individuals in all nations and was associated with over three and a half million fatalities worldwide in 2024, as per the WHO.
