Fewer than one in 10 people who could benefit from weight-loss injections including Wegovy have access to them, caution the WHO as it issues its inaugural advice on the therapies.
With over a billion individuals worldwide currently obese, it is calling for more widespread and fairer access to these injectable treatments.
According to forecasts, in excess of 2,000,000,000 will be living with obesity by 2030 without intervention.
"Our latest guidelines affirms that excess weight is a long-term condition that can be addressed with holistic and lifelong support," stated WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Significant expense, insufficient output, and logistical bottlenecks are key barriers to universal availability to the treatments that can help people shift significant body mass, notes the agency.
Weight-Loss Drug Supply Crisis
Even under the present best projected scenario, the supply of these medications would only suffice for approximately 100 million people – less than 10% of the global need, as stated by the WHO.
The recommendation urges countries and companies to expand access, through measures like voluntary licensing.
The intellectual property rights on semaglutide – the primary ingredient of the drug Wegovy – is scheduled to end in a number of nations in 2026.
How Obesity Injections Function
GLP-1 drugs replicate a biological compound to slow digestion, curb appetite and increase satiety so people eat less.
Patients typically start to lose weight within a few weeks of starting on the regular doses.
Evidence suggests people may see weight return a year later of halting the medication, when their usual hunger come back.
To be overweight or obese raises your chance for developing health problems, like type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular issues, brain attack, and specific malignancies.
Obesity concerns individuals in all nations and was responsible for 3.7 million deaths worldwide in 2024, according to the health agency.
