Less than 10% of patients eligible to benefit from weight-loss injections including Wegovy can access them, states the global health agency as it publishes its inaugural recommendations on the medications.
Considering over a billion individuals worldwide now living with obesity, it is urging more widespread and fairer availability to GLP-1 medication.
Per forecasts, in excess of 2,000,000,000 are projected to be obese by 2030 without intervention.
"Our new guidance acknowledges that excess weight is a lifelong illness that can be treated with comprehensive and continuous care," remarked its chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Substantial prices, insufficient output, and logistical bottlenecks are significant barriers to broad access to the jabs that can assist patients in reducing significant body mass, notes the agency.
Weight-Loss Drug Scarcity
Even under the present most favorable scenario, the manufacturing of these medications would only suffice for approximately 100 million people – under 10% of the global need, per the health organization.
The advice urges governments and firms to widen availability, by measures like patent sharing.
Exclusive production rights on semaglutide – the core component of Novo Nordisk's Wegovy – is set to lapse in a number of nations in 2026.
How Obesity Jabs Work
GLP-1 drugs imitate a natural hormone to delay gastric emptying, curb appetite and boost the sense of being full so users reduce food intake.
People usually start to lose weight in the initial weeks of starting on the regular doses.
Studies indicates users may put most of the weight back on a year later of stopping the drug, as their normal food cravings return.
Being above a healthy weight raises your likelihood for developing medical conditions, like diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and specific malignancies.
Obesity concerns individuals in every country and was associated with over three and a half million fatalities worldwide in 2024, according to the WHO.
