The Global Health Body Sounds Warning Over Severe Lack of Weight-Loss Medications

Under a tenth of patients eligible to benefit from weight-loss injections such as Wegovy can access them, caution the WHO as it publishes its first advice on the drugs.

Considering over a billion people worldwide currently classified as obese, it is calling for increased and just access to these injectable treatments.

Based on estimates, more than two billion could be obese by 2030 without intervention.

"The new guidance acknowledges that obesity is a chronic disease that can be treated with holistic and continuous treatment," remarked WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

High costs, insufficient output, and logistical bottlenecks are major obstacles to universal access to the jabs that can aid individuals in losing significant weight, notes the agency.

GLP-1 Therapy Supply Crisis

Despite the current best projected outlook, the manufacturing of these medications would only suffice for around 100 million people – less than 10% of those who need them, per the WHO.

The recommendation encourages countries and companies to increase availability, by strategies like patent sharing.

A patent on the active ingredient – the primary component of a leading brand – is scheduled to end in a number of countries in 2026.

How Obesity Jabs Work

The injections imitate a natural hormone to reduce digestion speed, curb appetite and enhance the sense of being full so users consume fewer calories.

Patients usually start to lose weight within a few weeks of beginning the once-weekly jabs.

Research points to patients may see weight return after a year of stopping the treatment, because their typical hunger return.

To be carrying excess weight increases your chance for contracting diseases, like diabetes, heart disease, brain attack, and specific cancers.

Obesity affects people in all nations and was linked to 3.7 million fatalities worldwide in 2024, per the WHO.