WHO Raises Alert Over Severe Lack of Weight-Loss Injections

Under one in 10 people eligible to benefit from weight-loss injections such as Wegovy can access them, states the global health agency as it publishes its initial recommendations on the therapies.

Considering more than one billion individuals worldwide currently living with obesity, it is urging increased and just access to GLP-1 medication.

Based on forecasts, over two billion are projected to be obese by 2030 if no action is taken.

"Our new guidelines affirms that obesity is a lifelong illness that can be managed with comprehensive and ongoing care," remarked WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

Substantial prices, insufficient output, and distribution challenges are key hurdles to universal access to the treatments that can aid individuals in losing considerable body mass, explains the organization.

Weight-Loss Drug Scarcity

Even in the present most favorable outlook, the supply of such drugs might only reach around 100 million people – less than 10% of those who need them, per the WHO.

The guideline urges countries and companies to widen access, by approaches such as patent sharing.

The intellectual property rights on the active ingredient – the main component of Novo Nordisk's Wegovy – is due to expire in multiple nations in 2026.

The Way Weight-Loss Jabs Function

GLP-1 drugs replicate a body's own hormone to slow digestion, reduce hunger and enhance the sense of being full so individuals eat less.

People typically begin shedding pounds in the initial weeks of commencing the weekly injections.

Evidence points to people may see weight return a year later of discontinuing the medication, as their typical appetite return.

To be carrying excess weight elevates your chance for contracting health problems, such as diabetes, cardiovascular issues, brain attack, and certain cancers.

Excess weight concerns individuals in every country and was associated with 3.7 million deaths worldwide in 2024, as per the WHO.