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 medications.
With over a billion individuals worldwide currently living with obesity, it is calling for increased and just availability to this class of drugs.
Based on forecasts, in excess of 2,000,000,000 could be obese by 2030 without intervention.
"The new guidance acknowledges that excess weight is a lifelong illness that can be addressed with comprehensive and continuous treatment," remarked the agency's head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
High costs, insufficient output, and distribution challenges are significant obstacles to broad access to the treatments that can help people shift considerable weight, notes the body.
Weight-Loss Drug Supply Crisis
Even under the present most optimistic scenario, the manufacturing of GLP-1 therapies might only reach around 100 million people – less than 10% of those who need them, according to the health organization.
The guideline urges countries and companies to widen access, through strategies like licensing agreements.
The intellectual property rights on semaglutide – the core ingredient of Novo Nordisk's Wegovy – is set to lapse in several countries in 2026.
How Obesity Jabs Work
These medications imitate a body's own hormone to slow digestion, curb appetite and increase the sense of being full so users reduce food intake.
People usually see weight reduction in the initial weeks of beginning the weekly injections.
Studies indicates users may regain a significant portion after a year of stopping the drug, because their typical hunger resume.
Being overweight or obese raises your chance for contracting diseases, like type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular issues, brain attack, and specific malignancies.
Obesity concerns individuals in every country and was associated with 3.7 million deaths worldwide in 2024, per the WHO.
