Fewer than a tenth of people eligible to benefit from obesity jabs including Wegovy can access them, caution the World Health Organization as it publishes its first advice on the medications.
With over a billion people worldwide now living with obesity, it is urging more widespread and fairer access to these injectable treatments.
Per estimates, over two billion could be obese by 2030 if no action is taken.
"Our new guidelines recognises that excess weight is a long-term condition that can be addressed with holistic and lifelong care," said its chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Substantial prices, insufficient output, and logistical bottlenecks are significant obstacles to broad availability to the jabs that can assist patients in reducing significant body mass, says the organization.
Weight-Loss Drug Shortage
Even under the present best projected scenario, the production of such drugs would only suffice for approximately 100 million people – under 10% of the global need, per the health organization.
The advice urges nations and manufacturers to increase access, by measures including voluntary licensing.
The intellectual property rights on a key compound – the core ingredient of Novo Nordisk's Wegovy – is set to lapse in several countries in 2026.
How Weight-Loss Injections Work
GLP-1 drugs replicate a natural hormone to slow digestion, curb appetite and increase the sense of being full so people reduce food intake.
People usually begin shedding pounds after several weeks of starting on the once-weekly jabs.
Research indicates patients may put most of the weight back on a year later of discontinuing the medication, because their usual hunger come back.
To be above a healthy weight raises your chance for contracting health problems, including diabetes, cardiovascular issues, stroke, and certain cancers.
Excess weight concerns individuals in all nations and was linked to 3.7 million fatalities worldwide in 2024, as per the WHO.
