Under a tenth of patients that would benefit from obesity jabs like Wegovy can access them, warns the global health agency as it releases its first guidance on the therapies.
Given more than one billion individuals worldwide now classified as obese, it is calling for more widespread and fairer availability to GLP-1 medication.
Based on estimates, in excess of 2,000,000,000 could be obese by 2030 if no action is taken.
"The new guidelines acknowledges that excess weight is a lifelong illness that can be addressed with comprehensive and continuous support," remarked WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Substantial prices, constrained manufacturing, and distribution challenges are major hurdles to universal availability to the injections that can aid individuals in losing substantial body mass, notes the organization.
Weight-Loss Drug Supply Crisis
Even in the present best projected outlook, the supply of these medications could only cover around 100 million people – under 10% of the global need, per the health organization.
The advice calls on countries and companies to widen availability, via approaches including voluntary licensing.
Exclusive production rights on a key compound – the main component of a leading brand – is set to lapse in several nations in 2026.
The Way Obesity Drugs Operate
These medications replicate a body's own hormone to slow digestion, suppress the appetite and boost the sense of being full so people consume fewer calories.
Patients typically see weight reduction within a few weeks of beginning the regular doses.
Research points to patients may put most of the weight back on after a year of halting the treatment, as their typical hunger return.
To be above a healthy weight increases your likelihood for contracting diseases, like diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and certain malignancies.
Obesity concerns individuals in countries worldwide and was associated with millions of fatalities worldwide in 2024, according to the WHO.
