Fewer than one in 10 patients who could benefit from weight-loss injections like Wegovy have access to them, warns the global health agency as it publishes its first advice on the medications.
With in excess of 1,000,000,000 people worldwide currently classified as obese, it is calling for broader and more equitable availability to this class of drugs.
Based on estimates, over two billion will be living with obesity by 2030 without intervention.
"Our new guidance recognises that obesity is a lifelong illness that can be addressed with holistic and lifelong care," said WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Substantial prices, insufficient output, and logistical bottlenecks are key barriers to universal access to the jabs that can help people shift significant body mass, notes the agency.
Skinny Jab Scarcity
Even in the present most optimistic scenario, the production of these medications might only reach around 100 million people – less than 10% of those who need them, per the WHO.
The advice encourages governments and firms to increase access, by measures like patent sharing.
Exclusive production rights on the active ingredient – the main ingredient of the drug Wegovy – is scheduled to end in a number of nations in 2026.
How Obesity Drugs Work
The injections imitate a biological compound to slow digestion, suppress the appetite and increase the sense of being full so people eat less.
Individuals commonly begin shedding pounds in the initial weeks of commencing the weekly injections.
Studies suggests users may regain a significant portion after a year of halting the drug, because their usual food cravings come back.
To be above a healthy weight increases your chance for contracting health problems, including diabetes, cardiovascular issues, stroke, and some malignancies.
Excess weight concerns individuals in all nations and was responsible for 3.7 million deaths worldwide in 2024, according to the health agency.
