World Health Organization Raises Concern Over Critical Lack of Obesity Injections
Less than 10% of people who could benefit from obesity jabs like Wegovy have access to them, warns the World Health Organization as it releases its inaugural guidance on the drugs.
Considering more than one billion people worldwide now obese, it is advocating for more widespread and fairer availability to this class of drugs.
Per estimates, more than two billion will be living with obesity by 2030 if no action is taken.
"The latest guidelines recognises that excess weight is a lifelong illness that can be managed with comprehensive and ongoing treatment," said the agency's head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Substantial prices, constrained manufacturing, and logistical bottlenecks are significant barriers to universal availability to the injections that can help people shift significant body mass, explains the body.
GLP-1 Therapy Shortage
Even under the present most favorable outlook, the production of these medications could only cover around 100 million people – fewer than 10% of those who need them, as stated by the health organization.
The advice encourages governments and firms to increase access, through measures such as patent sharing.
A patent on semaglutide – the primary component of a leading brand – is due to expire in multiple countries in 2026.
How Obesity Jabs Operate
These medications mimick a natural hormone to delay gastric emptying, suppress the appetite and boost the sense of being full so individuals eat less.
Patients typically see weight reduction after several weeks of commencing the regular doses.
Evidence points to users may put most of the weight back on after a year of stopping the drug, when their usual appetite resume.
Being above a healthy weight elevates your chance for developing diseases, like type 2 diabetes, heart disease, brain attack, and certain malignancies.
Obesity concerns people in all nations and was linked to over three and a half million fatalities worldwide in 2024, per the WHO.
