Less than a tenth of people eligible to benefit from weight-loss injections like Wegovy can access them, states the WHO as it releases its initial advice on the medications.
Considering in excess of 1,000,000,000 people worldwide now obese, it is advocating for increased and just access to this class of drugs.
Based on forecasts, over two billion are projected to be living with obesity by 2030 without intervention.
"Our new guidance acknowledges that obesity is a long-term condition that can be managed with thorough and ongoing care," remarked the agency's head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Substantial prices, limited production capacity, and logistical bottlenecks are significant barriers to broad availability to the treatments that can aid individuals in losing considerable weight, says the agency.
Weight-Loss Drug Scarcity
Even under the present most favorable scenario, the manufacturing of GLP-1 therapies could only cover about 100 million people – fewer than 10% of the global need, per the health organization.
The advice urges countries and companies to expand availability, via measures such as licensing agreements.
Exclusive production rights on a key compound – the core component of Novo Nordisk's Wegovy – is scheduled to end in a number of countries in 2026.
How Obesity Injections Function
GLP-1 drugs imitate a biological compound to slow digestion, curb appetite and enhance satiety so users eat less.
Individuals usually start to lose weight in the initial weeks of starting on the regular doses.
Evidence points to people may put most of the weight back on a year later of discontinuing the treatment, as their typical hunger resume.
To be carrying excess weight elevates your chance for experiencing diseases, including diabetes, heart disease, brain attack, and some malignancies.
Obesity concerns individuals in all nations and was responsible for 3.7 million fatalities worldwide in 2024, as per the health agency.
