WHO Issues Alert Over Severe Shortage of Obesity Jabs
Fewer than 10% of patients eligible to benefit from weight-loss injections like Wegovy have access to them, caution the World Health Organization as it issues its inaugural guidance on the medications.
Considering over a billion individuals worldwide now living with obesity, it is advocating for more widespread and fairer access to this class of drugs.
According to estimates, over two billion are projected to be obese by 2030 without intervention.
"The new guidelines affirms that excess weight is a lifelong illness that can be managed with holistic and continuous support," stated WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Significant expense, insufficient output, and supply-chain constraints are significant hurdles to universal availability to the treatments that can help people shift considerable weight, explains the agency.
Weight-Loss Drug Scarcity
Even in the current best projected case, the manufacturing of GLP-1 therapies might only reach about 100 million people – fewer than 10% of eligible patients, per the WHO.
The recommendation encourages nations and manufacturers to increase access, by measures like voluntary licensing.
A patent on semaglutide – the main component of a leading brand – is set to lapse in multiple countries in 2026.
How Obesity Jabs Operate
GLP-1 drugs replicate a natural hormone to delay gastric emptying, reduce hunger and increase feelings of fullness so users eat less.
People usually see weight reduction after several weeks of commencing the once-weekly jabs.
Research points to users may see weight return after a year of discontinuing the medication, when their normal food cravings return.
Being above a healthy weight raises your risk for experiencing diseases, such as diabetes, heart disease, brain attack, and certain malignancies.
Excess weight concerns individuals in every country and was responsible for over three and a half million deaths worldwide in 2024, according to the WHO.
