Fewer than 10% of patients that would benefit from weight-loss injections such as Wegovy are able to get them, caution the World Health Organization as it issues its first advice on the drugs.
Considering more than one billion people worldwide currently living with obesity, it is calling for broader and more equitable access to GLP-1 medication.
Based on projections, over two billion could be obese by 2030 unless action is taken.
"Our new guidelines affirms that obesity is a lifelong illness that can be treated with comprehensive and ongoing care," stated WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Significant expense, insufficient output, and supply-chain constraints are major barriers to widespread availability to the injections that can aid individuals in losing considerable body mass, says the body.
Skinny Jab Scarcity
Despite the current best projected scenario, the supply of such drugs would only suffice for around 100 million people – under 10% of those who need them, according to the health organization.
The advice calls on nations and manufacturers to increase access, via measures including licensing agreements.
Exclusive production rights on the active ingredient – the primary ingredient of Novo Nordisk's Wegovy – is set to lapse in several nations in 2026.
The Way Obesity Jabs Function
GLP-1 drugs replicate a natural hormone to slow digestion, curb appetite and enhance satiety so people reduce food intake.
Patients usually start to lose weight after several weeks of starting on the weekly injections.
Evidence suggests patients may put most of the weight back on a year later of discontinuing the treatment, when their usual hunger return.
To be overweight or obese increases your chance for contracting health problems, like type 2 diabetes, heart disease, brain attack, and some malignancies.
Excess weight affects individuals in all nations and was associated with over three and a half million deaths worldwide in 2024, according to the WHO.
