🔗 Share this article The Global Health Body Raises Warning Over Severe Lack of Weight-Loss Medications Less than one in 10 patients eligible to benefit from weight-loss injections such as Wegovy can access them, warns the WHO as it publishes its first guidance on the therapies. Considering more than one billion individuals worldwide now living with obesity, it is advocating for increased and just access to GLP-1 medication. Based on projections, in excess of 2,000,000,000 are projected to be obese by 2030 without intervention. "Our new guidelines recognises that excess weight is a chronic disease that can be managed with holistic and ongoing treatment," said the agency's head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. Significant expense, limited production capacity, and distribution challenges are significant hurdles to broad access to the injections that can help people shift considerable body mass, says the agency. Skinny Jab Scarcity Even under the present most optimistic scenario, the supply of GLP-1 therapies would only suffice for about 100 million people – fewer than 10% of those who need them, per the health organization. The advice calls on governments and firms to expand access, through measures like voluntary licensing. A patent on the active ingredient – the main ingredient of Novo Nordisk's Wegovy – is set to lapse in several countries in 2026. The Way Obesity Drugs Operate The injections imitate a natural hormone to reduce digestion speed, curb appetite and boost the sense of being full so individuals eat less. People commonly start to lose weight in the initial weeks of commencing the weekly injections. Studies points to people may put most of the weight back on after a year of stopping the drug, as their typical food cravings resume. Being carrying excess weight elevates your chance for developing medical conditions, including diabetes, cardiovascular issues, stroke, and certain malignancies. Excess weight concerns individuals in countries worldwide and was responsible for over three and a half million deaths worldwide in 2024, according to the health agency.
Less than one in 10 patients eligible to benefit from weight-loss injections such as Wegovy can access them, warns the WHO as it publishes its first guidance on the therapies. Considering more than one billion individuals worldwide now living with obesity, it is advocating for increased and just access to GLP-1 medication. Based on projections, in excess of 2,000,000,000 are projected to be obese by 2030 without intervention. "Our new guidelines recognises that excess weight is a chronic disease that can be managed with holistic and ongoing treatment," said the agency's head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. Significant expense, limited production capacity, and distribution challenges are significant hurdles to broad access to the injections that can help people shift considerable body mass, says the agency. Skinny Jab Scarcity Even under the present most optimistic scenario, the supply of GLP-1 therapies would only suffice for about 100 million people – fewer than 10% of those who need them, per the health organization. The advice calls on governments and firms to expand access, through measures like voluntary licensing. A patent on the active ingredient – the main ingredient of Novo Nordisk's Wegovy – is set to lapse in several countries in 2026. The Way Obesity Drugs Operate The injections imitate a natural hormone to reduce digestion speed, curb appetite and boost the sense of being full so individuals eat less. People commonly start to lose weight in the initial weeks of commencing the weekly injections. Studies points to people may put most of the weight back on after a year of stopping the drug, as their typical food cravings resume. Being carrying excess weight elevates your chance for developing medical conditions, including diabetes, cardiovascular issues, stroke, and certain malignancies. Excess weight concerns individuals in countries worldwide and was responsible for over three and a half million deaths worldwide in 2024, according to the health agency.