Under a tenth of people that would benefit from weight-loss injections including Wegovy can access them, states the global health agency as it publishes its first guidance on the medications.
Considering in excess of 1,000,000,000 people worldwide now obese, it is urging more widespread and fairer access to this class of drugs.
Based on estimates, in excess of 2,000,000,000 could be living with obesity by 2030 without intervention.
"The new guidance acknowledges that obesity is a long-term condition that can be treated with holistic and lifelong treatment," stated WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
High costs, limited production capacity, and logistical bottlenecks are significant barriers to widespread access to the injections that can aid individuals in losing significant body mass, notes the body.
Weight-Loss Drug Scarcity
Despite the present most favorable case, the production of GLP-1 therapies could only cover approximately 100 million people – under 10% of those who need them, per the WHO.
The recommendation encourages countries and companies to expand access, through approaches including patent sharing.
The intellectual property rights on a key compound – the core ingredient of Novo Nordisk's Wegovy – is set to lapse in a number of countries in 2026.
How Weight-Loss Drugs Work
The injections mimick a body's own hormone to delay gastric emptying, suppress the appetite and enhance the sense of being full so individuals reduce food intake.
People typically begin shedding pounds within a few weeks of commencing the weekly injections.
Studies points to patients may see weight return within a year of stopping the drug, when their usual appetite return.
To be overweight or obese increases your likelihood for contracting medical conditions, such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and specific cancers.
Excess weight concerns people in countries worldwide and was linked to over three and a half million deaths worldwide in 2024, per the WHO.
