Less than 10% of people eligible to benefit from obesity jabs like Wegovy are able to get them, caution the WHO as it publishes its inaugural advice on the medications.
Considering over a billion individuals worldwide now classified as obese, it is urging more widespread and fairer access to this class of drugs.
Per estimates, over two billion could be obese by 2030 without intervention.
"Our new guidance recognises that obesity is a chronic disease that can be addressed with comprehensive and continuous care," stated WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Substantial prices, insufficient output, and logistical bottlenecks are major obstacles to widespread access to the injections that can aid individuals in losing considerable body mass, says the agency.
Skinny Jab Supply Crisis
Even in the present most favorable outlook, the manufacturing of these medications would only suffice for approximately 100 million people – less than 10% of those who need them, according to the health organization.
The guideline urges countries and companies to increase access, through strategies such as voluntary licensing.
The intellectual property rights on a key compound – the main component of Novo Nordisk's Wegovy – is set to lapse in several nations in 2026.
How Weight-Loss Injections Operate
The injections mimick a body's own hormone to slow digestion, curb appetite and enhance feelings of fullness so users reduce food intake.
Individuals usually start to lose weight within a few weeks of starting on the once-weekly jabs.
Research points to patients may put most of the weight back on a year later of halting the drug, because their usual hunger return.
Being carrying excess weight increases your risk for contracting health problems, such as diabetes, heart disease, brain attack, and specific cancers.
Obesity concerns people in countries worldwide and was linked to millions of deaths worldwide in 2024, as per the health agency.
