Less than one in 10 individuals who could benefit from weight-loss injections including Wegovy have access to them, warns the WHO as it releases its inaugural advice on the therapies.
Given over a billion people worldwide now obese, it is advocating for more widespread and fairer availability to these injectable treatments.
Per forecasts, more than two billion will be obese by 2030 unless action is taken.
"Our new guidance affirms that obesity is a lifelong illness that can be addressed with thorough and lifelong treatment," stated the agency's head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Significant expense, insufficient output, and supply-chain constraints are key barriers to widespread access to the treatments that can aid individuals in losing considerable weight, notes the body.
Skinny Jab Supply Crisis
Even in the current most favorable case, the production of GLP-1 therapies could only cover approximately 100 million people – fewer than 10% of the global need, per the health organization.
The advice encourages nations and manufacturers to increase access, through approaches such as voluntary licensing.
The intellectual property rights on the active ingredient – the main ingredient of a leading brand – is set to lapse in multiple countries in 2026.
How Obesity Jabs Work
The injections replicate a natural hormone to slow digestion, curb appetite and increase the sense of being full so individuals eat less.
Patients commonly begin shedding pounds in the initial weeks of beginning the weekly injections.
Evidence suggests users may regain a significant portion a year later of halting the drug, because their typical appetite resume.
To be carrying excess weight raises your risk for experiencing health problems, such as diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and specific cancers.
Excess weight concerns people in every country and was linked to over three and a half million fatalities worldwide in 2024, according to the WHO.
