Less than one in 10 individuals eligible to benefit from weight-loss injections including Wegovy are able to get them, warns the World Health Organization as it issues its initial guidance on the drugs.
Given more than one billion people worldwide currently classified as obese, it is advocating for more widespread and fairer access to GLP-1 medication.
Based on estimates, more than two billion are projected to be obese by 2030 without intervention.
"The latest guidelines acknowledges that obesity is a chronic disease that can be addressed with holistic and continuous treatment," said the agency's head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Substantial prices, insufficient output, and distribution challenges are major barriers to universal availability to the jabs that can assist patients in reducing significant body mass, explains the agency.
Skinny Jab Supply Crisis
Even in the current most favorable outlook, the production of these medications might only reach around 100 million people – fewer than 10% of those who need them, per the health organization.
The advice calls on nations and manufacturers to expand access, through measures like licensing agreements.
Exclusive production rights on the active ingredient – the core ingredient of Novo Nordisk's Wegovy – is set to lapse in multiple nations in 2026.
How Obesity Jabs Function
These medications replicate a body's own hormone to slow digestion, curb appetite and enhance the sense of being full so people consume fewer calories.
Individuals commonly see weight reduction after several weeks of commencing the regular doses.
Evidence suggests people may see weight return after a year of stopping the treatment, when their typical hunger return.
To be overweight or obese raises your likelihood for developing health problems, including type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and certain cancers.
Obesity affects people in countries worldwide and was linked to 3.7 million fatalities worldwide in 2024, as per the WHO.
