Under 10% of individuals that would benefit from obesity jabs like Wegovy are able to get them, caution the global health agency as it publishes its inaugural recommendations on the medications.
With over a billion people worldwide now classified as obese, it is advocating for more widespread and fairer availability to this class of drugs.
According to projections, more than two billion could be obese by 2030 without intervention.
"Our latest guidance recognises that excess weight is a lifelong illness that can be treated with holistic and lifelong treatment," said WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Substantial prices, constrained manufacturing, and distribution challenges are significant obstacles to universal availability to the jabs that can assist patients in reducing considerable weight, explains the organization.
Weight-Loss Drug Shortage
Even in the current most optimistic scenario, the manufacturing of such drugs might only reach approximately 100 million people – under 10% of those who need them, per the health organization.
The guideline calls on governments and firms to expand availability, by strategies like patent sharing.
A patent on the active ingredient – the primary ingredient of Novo Nordisk's Wegovy – is set to lapse in multiple nations in 2026.
The Way Weight-Loss Drugs Function
These medications imitate a body's own hormone to slow digestion, curb appetite and boost the sense of being full so people reduce food intake.
People typically start to lose weight in the initial weeks of commencing the weekly injections.
Evidence indicates users may put most of the weight back on after a year of discontinuing the medication, because their typical hunger return.
To be above a healthy weight increases your chance for developing health problems, such as diabetes, heart disease, brain attack, and specific cancers.
Obesity affects people in countries worldwide and was responsible for over three and a half million deaths worldwide in 2024, according to the health agency.
