Less than 10% of people that would benefit from weight-loss injections such as Wegovy can access them, caution the global health agency as it publishes its inaugural recommendations on the medications.
Considering more than one billion people worldwide currently obese, it is calling for broader and more equitable availability to GLP-1 medication.
Based on estimates, more than two billion will be living with obesity by 2030 without intervention.
"The new guidelines acknowledges that excess weight is a long-term condition that can be treated with thorough and lifelong care," stated the agency's head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Significant expense, limited production capacity, and logistical bottlenecks are significant hurdles to universal availability to the treatments that can help people shift significant body mass, explains the body.
Weight-Loss Drug Scarcity
Despite the present best projected case, the manufacturing of such drugs could only cover about 100 million people – fewer than 10% of those who need them, per the health organization.
The advice urges countries and companies to increase availability, through measures like patent sharing.
The intellectual property rights on a key compound – the main ingredient of the drug Wegovy – is scheduled to end in a number of countries in 2026.
How Weight-Loss Jabs Operate
These medications imitate a body's own hormone to slow digestion, curb appetite and enhance the sense of being full so individuals reduce food intake.
Patients typically begin shedding pounds within a few weeks of starting on the regular doses.
Research indicates people may regain a significant portion within a year of stopping the drug, when their usual hunger resume.
To be carrying excess weight elevates your risk for contracting diseases, including type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and specific cancers.
Excess weight affects people in all nations and was linked to millions of deaths worldwide in 2024, according to the health agency.
