Less than one in 10 individuals eligible to benefit from weight-loss injections like Wegovy are able to get them, warns the global health agency as it publishes its inaugural advice on the medications.
Considering over a billion people worldwide now classified as obese, it is advocating for broader and more equitable access to these injectable treatments.
Per estimates, over two billion could be obese by 2030 if no action is taken.
"Our latest guidance acknowledges that obesity is a lifelong illness that can be treated with thorough and lifelong support," remarked WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Substantial prices, constrained manufacturing, and supply-chain constraints are key barriers to universal access to the injections that can help people shift significant body mass, explains the body.
Weight-Loss Drug Shortage
Even under the present most optimistic scenario, the manufacturing of GLP-1 therapies could only cover approximately 100 million people – fewer than 10% of eligible patients, as stated by the WHO.
The guideline encourages nations and manufacturers to expand availability, by measures like patent sharing.
The intellectual property rights on a key compound – the core ingredient of the drug Wegovy – is set to lapse in multiple nations in 2026.
How Weight-Loss Drugs Function
These medications replicate a biological compound to slow digestion, curb appetite and increase satiety so users eat less.
People typically begin shedding pounds after several weeks of beginning the weekly injections.
Research suggests people may see weight return a year later of halting the drug, because their typical hunger come back.
To be above a healthy weight increases your risk for contracting diseases, including diabetes, heart disease, brain attack, and some malignancies.
Excess weight concerns individuals in countries worldwide and was linked to over three and a half million fatalities worldwide in 2024, as per the WHO.
