Fewer than one in 10 people that would benefit from obesity jabs such as Wegovy are able to get them, caution the global health agency as it releases its initial recommendations on the therapies.
Considering over a billion people worldwide now living with obesity, it is advocating for broader and more equitable availability to GLP-1 medication.
Per forecasts, in excess of 2,000,000,000 could be obese by 2030 without intervention.
"Our new guidance acknowledges that excess weight is a long-term condition that can be managed with thorough and ongoing support," stated WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Significant expense, constrained manufacturing, and logistical bottlenecks are key hurdles to universal availability to the treatments that can aid individuals in losing substantial body mass, explains the body.
Skinny Jab Shortage
Even under the present best projected scenario, the manufacturing of these medications would only suffice for around 100 million people – fewer than 10% of eligible patients, as stated by the WHO.
The advice calls on nations and manufacturers to widen access, through strategies including licensing agreements.
A patent on the active ingredient – the main ingredient of the drug Wegovy – is due to expire in multiple countries in 2026.
How Obesity Jabs Function
These medications mimick a body's own hormone to reduce digestion speed, suppress the appetite and increase the sense of being full so people reduce food intake.
Patients usually start to lose weight after several weeks of beginning the once-weekly jabs.
Evidence suggests people may put most of the weight back on within a year of stopping the treatment, when their typical appetite resume.
Being above a healthy weight increases your risk for developing diseases, like diabetes, heart disease, brain attack, and specific malignancies.
Obesity affects people in all nations and was associated with over three and a half million fatalities worldwide in 2024, per the health agency.
