Fewer than 10% of people who could benefit from weight-loss injections like Wegovy have access to them, caution the WHO as it publishes its first recommendations on the drugs.
With in excess of 1,000,000,000 individuals worldwide now living with obesity, it is calling for increased and just access to these injectable treatments.
Per estimates, more than two billion will be obese by 2030 without intervention.
"The new guidelines affirms that excess weight is a chronic disease that can be addressed with thorough and continuous care," stated the agency's head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Significant expense, insufficient output, and distribution challenges are major barriers to universal availability to the treatments that can help people shift considerable body mass, explains the organization.
Skinny Jab Supply Crisis
Even in the present best projected outlook, the manufacturing of these medications might only reach around 100 million people – fewer than 10% of eligible patients, according to the WHO.
The advice calls on countries and companies to expand availability, via strategies including voluntary licensing.
The intellectual property rights on the active ingredient – the main component of Novo Nordisk's Wegovy – is due to expire in multiple countries in 2026.
How Weight-Loss Drugs Work
These medications mimick a biological compound to delay gastric emptying, suppress the appetite and enhance the sense of being full so users eat less.
People typically start to lose weight after several weeks of starting on the once-weekly jabs.
Studies indicates people may regain a significant portion a year later of halting the treatment, because their usual hunger resume.
Being carrying excess weight raises your risk for developing medical conditions, including type 2 diabetes, heart disease, brain attack, and specific malignancies.
Obesity impacts people in all nations and was associated with over three and a half million deaths worldwide in 2024, according to the WHO.
