Less than 10% of patients eligible to benefit from obesity jabs such as Wegovy are able to get them, states the WHO as it publishes its initial guidance on the drugs.
Given over a billion individuals worldwide currently classified as obese, it is calling for increased and just access to these injectable treatments.
According to forecasts, over two billion could 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 thorough and continuous support," said WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Significant expense, insufficient output, and distribution challenges are significant hurdles to widespread access to the jabs that can aid individuals in losing significant weight, says the agency.
Weight-Loss Drug Shortage
Despite the present most optimistic case, the manufacturing of these medications would only suffice for approximately 100 million people – less than 10% of those who need them, as stated by the health organization.
The advice calls on nations and manufacturers to expand access, via measures like patent sharing.
Exclusive production rights on a key compound – the main component of Novo Nordisk's Wegovy – is scheduled to end in several nations in 2026.
How Weight-Loss Injections Function
The injections mimick a body's own hormone to delay gastric emptying, curb appetite and increase the sense of being full so users reduce food intake.
People commonly start to lose weight in the initial weeks of commencing the regular doses.
Evidence indicates patients may regain a significant portion after a year of halting the treatment, because their normal food cravings return.
To be carrying excess weight increases your likelihood for experiencing medical conditions, such as diabetes, heart disease, brain attack, and specific cancers.
Excess weight concerns individuals in every country and was responsible for 3.7 million deaths worldwide in 2024, as per the WHO.
