Less than a tenth of patients eligible to benefit from obesity jabs like Wegovy can access them, caution the WHO as it publishes its inaugural recommendations on the therapies.
Considering more than one billion individuals worldwide currently living with obesity, it is advocating for more widespread and fairer availability to GLP-1 medication.
Per projections, more than two billion are projected to be living with obesity by 2030 if no action is taken.
"The latest guidelines affirms that excess weight is a long-term condition that can be addressed with thorough and continuous support," stated the agency's head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Substantial prices, constrained manufacturing, and logistical bottlenecks are key barriers to universal availability to the jabs that can assist patients in reducing considerable weight, explains the organization.
Skinny Jab Scarcity
Despite the present most favorable case, the manufacturing of these medications could only cover approximately 100 million people – less than 10% of those who need them, according to the health organization.
The recommendation calls on nations and manufacturers to expand access, by measures including licensing agreements.
The intellectual property rights on the active ingredient – the core ingredient of the drug Wegovy – is set to lapse in several countries in 2026.
How Obesity Injections Operate
These medications replicate a natural hormone to delay gastric emptying, suppress the appetite and increase feelings of fullness so users reduce food intake.
Individuals typically begin shedding pounds after several weeks of commencing the regular doses.
Research suggests people may put most of the weight back on a year later of discontinuing the treatment, when their normal appetite return.
To be above a healthy weight increases your likelihood for developing health problems, like diabetes, heart disease, brain attack, and some malignancies.
Excess weight concerns people in all nations and was linked to over three and a half million fatalities worldwide in 2024, according to the WHO.
