Under one in 10 patients eligible to benefit from obesity jabs including Wegovy can access them, caution the WHO as it releases its initial recommendations on the drugs.
Given over a billion people worldwide currently living with obesity, it is advocating for increased and just access to GLP-1 medication.
Per estimates, in excess of 2,000,000,000 could be living with obesity by 2030 if no action is taken.
"Our new guidelines affirms that excess weight is a lifelong illness that can be addressed with holistic and lifelong care," stated the agency's head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
High costs, constrained manufacturing, and supply-chain constraints are significant hurdles to universal availability to the injections that can help people shift considerable weight, explains the body.
Skinny Jab Scarcity
Even in the present most optimistic outlook, the supply of such drugs could only cover about 100 million people – fewer than 10% of those who need them, according to the health organization.
The advice encourages nations and manufacturers to widen availability, via strategies such as licensing agreements.
Exclusive production rights on the active ingredient – the main ingredient of Novo Nordisk's Wegovy – is scheduled to end in several countries in 2026.
How Weight-Loss Drugs Operate
GLP-1 drugs imitate a natural hormone to slow digestion, curb appetite and enhance the sense of being full so users eat less.
People usually begin shedding pounds in the initial weeks of commencing the weekly injections.
Evidence points to people may see weight return a year later of halting the drug, because their typical food cravings resume.
Being carrying excess weight raises your likelihood for experiencing medical conditions, like type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular issues, brain attack, and some cancers.
Excess weight concerns individuals in countries worldwide and was responsible for 3.7 million deaths worldwide in 2024, per the health agency.
