Under one in 10 individuals who could benefit from weight-loss injections like Wegovy are able to get them, caution the WHO as it issues its initial recommendations on the medications.
Considering more than one billion people worldwide now living with obesity, it is urging increased and just availability to this class of drugs.
Based on forecasts, in excess of 2,000,000,000 will be living with obesity by 2030 if no action is taken.
"The latest guidance acknowledges that excess weight is a lifelong illness that can be managed with holistic and lifelong care," stated the agency's head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Substantial prices, constrained manufacturing, and logistical bottlenecks are major hurdles to broad availability to the injections that can help people shift significant body mass, says the agency.
Weight-Loss Drug Scarcity
Even under the present most favorable outlook, the supply of such drugs would only suffice for about 100 million people – less than 10% of eligible patients, per the WHO.
The advice encourages nations and manufacturers to expand availability, via measures such as voluntary licensing.
The intellectual property rights on a key compound – the main component of a leading brand – is scheduled to end in several nations in 2026.
How Obesity Drugs Operate
The injections replicate a body's own hormone to slow digestion, reduce hunger and boost the sense of being full so people consume fewer calories.
People commonly start to lose weight within a few weeks of starting on the regular doses.
Evidence indicates patients may see weight return a year later of discontinuing the treatment, when their usual appetite come back.
To be above a healthy weight elevates your chance for developing diseases, such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and some malignancies.
Excess weight concerns people in all nations and was associated with over three and a half million deaths worldwide in 2024, as per the health agency.
