World Health Organization Raises Warning Over Severe Lack of Obesity Medications
Under 10% of individuals eligible to benefit from obesity jabs like Wegovy can access them, caution the global health agency as it publishes its initial advice on the therapies.
With more than one billion individuals worldwide currently classified as obese, it is calling for increased and just access to this class of drugs.
Per projections, over two billion could be living with obesity by 2030 without intervention.
"Our new guidelines acknowledges that excess weight is a chronic disease that can be treated with thorough and lifelong care," remarked the agency's head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
High costs, constrained manufacturing, and supply-chain constraints are major barriers to widespread access to the injections that can aid individuals in losing considerable weight, explains the body.
Weight-Loss Drug Scarcity
Even in the current most optimistic outlook, the production of GLP-1 therapies might only reach about 100 million people – under 10% of those who need them, according to the WHO.
The guideline calls on nations and manufacturers to widen access, through measures including patent sharing.
The intellectual property rights on the active ingredient – the main component of a leading brand – is set to lapse in a number of nations in 2026.
How Obesity Drugs Function
GLP-1 drugs mimick a body's own hormone to slow digestion, reduce hunger and boost feelings of fullness so users eat less.
People usually start to lose weight in the initial weeks of commencing the weekly injections.
Evidence suggests people may see weight return a year later of stopping the medication, when their typical food cravings resume.
To be carrying excess weight increases your chance for contracting health problems, such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease, brain attack, and specific malignancies.
Excess weight concerns people in every country and was responsible for over three and a half million fatalities worldwide in 2024, as per the health agency.
