Fewer than 10% of individuals eligible to benefit from obesity jabs including Wegovy can access them, caution the global health agency as it releases its inaugural guidance on the therapies.
With more than one billion people worldwide now obese, it is urging more widespread and fairer availability to this class of drugs.
Per estimates, over two billion could be living with obesity by 2030 without intervention.
"The new guidelines recognises that excess weight is a lifelong illness that can be addressed with comprehensive and ongoing support," said the agency's head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Significant expense, limited production capacity, and logistical bottlenecks are significant barriers to broad availability to the jabs that can help people shift considerable weight, notes the organization.
Skinny Jab Scarcity
Even in the present best projected case, the supply of GLP-1 therapies would only suffice for approximately 100 million people – fewer than 10% of the global need, per the WHO.
The guideline urges governments and firms to expand access, through measures including patent sharing.
The intellectual property rights on a key compound – the core ingredient of a leading brand – is set to lapse in a number of countries in 2026.
The Way Weight-Loss Drugs Function
The injections imitate a body's own hormone to slow digestion, suppress the appetite and enhance the sense of being full so users eat less.
People commonly begin shedding pounds in the initial weeks of starting on the weekly injections.
Studies indicates users may see weight return within a year of halting the medication, when their typical food cravings resume.
To be above a healthy weight raises your chance for developing health problems, including diabetes, heart disease, brain attack, and specific cancers.
Excess weight concerns individuals in countries worldwide and was responsible for over three and a half million deaths worldwide in 2024, as per the health agency.
