Less than 10% of patients eligible to benefit from obesity jabs including Wegovy are able to get them, states the WHO as it publishes its initial guidance on the medications.
Given over a billion people worldwide now living with obesity, it is urging more widespread and fairer access to these injectable treatments.
Based on estimates, more than two billion could be obese by 2030 without intervention.
"Our new guidelines recognises that excess weight is a lifelong illness that can be addressed with thorough and continuous support," stated the agency's head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Significant expense, limited production capacity, and distribution challenges are major barriers to widespread availability to the treatments that can help people shift significant body mass, notes the body.
Weight-Loss Drug Scarcity
Even in the current most optimistic outlook, the production of GLP-1 therapies could only cover approximately 100 million people – less than 10% of those who need them, as stated by the health organization.
The guideline calls on governments and firms to increase access, through strategies such as voluntary licensing.
A patent on a key compound – the core ingredient of the drug Wegovy – is set to lapse in a number of countries in 2026.
How Weight-Loss Jabs Function
GLP-1 drugs mimick a body's own hormone to slow digestion, reduce hunger and increase feelings of fullness so people eat less.
Individuals typically begin shedding pounds after several weeks of commencing the weekly injections.
Evidence points to patients may put most of the weight back on within a year of halting the medication, when their usual appetite return.
To be carrying excess weight increases your risk for experiencing diseases, such as diabetes, heart disease, brain attack, and specific cancers.
Excess weight impacts people in every country and was associated with millions of deaths worldwide in 2024, per the health agency.
