Fewer than 10% of people eligible to benefit from obesity jabs such as Wegovy are able to get them, states the global health agency as it releases its inaugural recommendations on the drugs.
Considering over a billion people worldwide now living with obesity, it is advocating for increased and just availability to GLP-1 medication.
According to forecasts, in excess of 2,000,000,000 will be obese by 2030 without intervention.
"The latest guidance recognises that excess weight is a chronic disease that can be managed with thorough and continuous support," said WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Substantial prices, constrained manufacturing, and distribution challenges are major hurdles to universal availability to the injections that can help people shift considerable body mass, notes the body.
Weight-Loss Drug Scarcity
Even under the current most optimistic case, the production of these medications would only suffice for about 100 million people – under 10% of eligible patients, according to the health organization.
The recommendation urges nations and manufacturers to increase availability, by measures like licensing agreements.
The intellectual property rights on a key compound – the primary component of a leading brand – is set to lapse in several countries in 2026.
How Obesity Jabs Operate
These medications mimick a body's own hormone to delay gastric emptying, reduce hunger and increase the sense of being full so individuals consume fewer calories.
Individuals commonly start to lose weight in the initial weeks of commencing the regular doses.
Research suggests patients may put most of the weight back on a year later of halting the drug, because their usual food cravings resume.
To be overweight or obese increases your likelihood for developing diseases, including diabetes, heart disease, brain attack, and some malignancies.
Excess weight affects individuals in every country and was responsible for over three and a half million deaths worldwide in 2024, according to the WHO.
