Less than one in 10 individuals who could benefit from weight-loss injections including Wegovy can access them, warns the World Health Organization as it releases its initial advice on the medications.
With more than one billion individuals worldwide currently classified as obese, it is advocating for increased and just availability to GLP-1 medication.
According to projections, in excess of 2,000,000,000 will be living with obesity by 2030 unless action is taken.
"Our new guidance acknowledges that obesity is a lifelong illness that can be addressed with comprehensive and continuous support," remarked its chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
High costs, constrained manufacturing, and supply-chain constraints are significant obstacles to broad access to the treatments that can aid individuals in losing considerable body mass, notes the body.
Skinny Jab Scarcity
Despite the present best projected case, the production of GLP-1 therapies would only suffice for approximately 100 million people – under 10% of those who need them, according to the health organization.
The advice urges nations and manufacturers to widen availability, through measures including licensing agreements.
The intellectual property rights on a key compound – the main ingredient of Novo Nordisk's Wegovy – is due to expire in multiple nations in 2026.
How Obesity Injections Operate
The injections imitate a biological compound to delay gastric emptying, suppress the appetite and increase satiety so individuals eat less.
Individuals usually start to lose weight after several weeks of beginning the once-weekly jabs.
Research suggests users may put most of the weight back on within a year of halting the drug, because their typical hunger resume.
To be above a healthy weight increases your chance for experiencing medical conditions, including diabetes, heart disease, brain attack, and specific cancers.
Obesity concerns people in countries worldwide and was associated with over three and a half million deaths worldwide in 2024, per the WHO.
