Less than 10% of individuals eligible to benefit from obesity jabs including Wegovy have access to them, warns the World Health Organization as it releases its inaugural guidance on the medications.
With more than one billion individuals worldwide currently classified as obese, it is calling for more widespread and fairer availability to these injectable treatments.
Based on forecasts, over two billion will be obese by 2030 if no action is taken.
"Our latest guidelines recognises that excess weight is a chronic disease that can be addressed with thorough and lifelong treatment," said its chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Substantial prices, limited production capacity, and distribution challenges are major obstacles to universal availability to the jabs that can aid individuals in losing substantial weight, notes the agency.
GLP-1 Therapy Shortage
Even under the present best projected case, the supply of such drugs would only suffice for approximately 100 million people – fewer than 10% of those who need them, as stated by the health organization.
The guideline urges nations and manufacturers to expand availability, through strategies including patent sharing.
A patent on the active ingredient – the main component of a leading brand – is scheduled to end in a number of nations in 2026.
The Way Weight-Loss Drugs Function
The injections replicate a body's own hormone to reduce digestion speed, reduce hunger and enhance feelings of fullness so individuals eat less.
Patients typically start to lose weight after several weeks of commencing the once-weekly jabs.
Evidence points to patients may regain a significant portion after a year of halting the medication, when their usual hunger return.
Being above a healthy weight elevates your chance for contracting health problems, such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease, brain attack, and specific malignancies.
Excess weight concerns people in countries worldwide and was responsible for 3.7 million deaths worldwide in 2024, per the health agency.
