WHO Sounds Alert Over Critical Scarcity of Weight-Loss Medications
Fewer than one in 10 people eligible to benefit from weight-loss injections like Wegovy can access them, warns the World Health Organization as it issues its inaugural advice on the drugs.
Given over a billion people worldwide currently classified as obese, it is calling for increased and just availability to this class of drugs.
According to projections, over two billion are projected to be obese by 2030 unless action is taken.
"The new guidance affirms that obesity is a lifelong illness that can be managed with comprehensive and ongoing care," stated WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Substantial prices, insufficient output, and logistical bottlenecks are significant barriers to broad availability to the treatments that can help people shift significant body mass, explains the body.
GLP-1 Therapy Shortage
Even in the current most favorable case, the supply of such drugs could only cover about 100 million people – less than 10% of those who need them, per the health organization.
The recommendation urges governments and firms to increase access, by measures like voluntary licensing.
The intellectual property rights on semaglutide – the primary ingredient of a leading brand – is due to expire in multiple countries in 2026.
How Weight-Loss Jabs Work
These medications replicate a body's own hormone to delay gastric emptying, reduce hunger and boost the sense of being full so individuals eat less.
Patients typically begin shedding pounds within a few weeks of beginning the weekly injections.
Research points to patients may regain a significant portion a year later of discontinuing the drug, when their usual hunger return.
Being above a healthy weight elevates your chance for developing medical conditions, including diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and specific malignancies.
Obesity concerns people in countries worldwide and was associated with over three and a half million fatalities worldwide in 2024, per the health agency.
