World Health Organization Issues Concern Over Severe Lack of Weight-Loss Injections

Under one in 10 patients eligible to benefit from weight-loss injections such as Wegovy have access to them, warns the WHO as it releases its inaugural advice on the drugs.

With more than one billion individuals worldwide currently classified as obese, it is calling for more widespread and fairer access to these injectable treatments.

According to forecasts, over two billion are projected to be obese by 2030 without intervention.

"The new guidelines acknowledges that excess weight is a lifelong illness that can be addressed with holistic and ongoing care," stated its chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

Significant expense, insufficient output, and supply-chain constraints are major hurdles to widespread availability to the injections that can assist patients in reducing considerable weight, explains the body.

GLP-1 Therapy Scarcity

Even in the current most favorable scenario, the production of such drugs might only reach around 100 million people – under 10% of the global need, per the health organization.

The guideline encourages nations and manufacturers to increase access, through approaches including patent sharing.

A patent on the active ingredient – the core ingredient of a leading brand – is set to lapse in a number of countries in 2026.

How Obesity Injections Function

The injections replicate a body's own hormone to reduce digestion speed, reduce hunger and enhance feelings of fullness so users reduce food intake.

People commonly begin shedding pounds in the initial weeks of commencing the once-weekly jabs.

Evidence indicates people may put most of the weight back on after a year of halting the drug, as their usual hunger return.

Being overweight or obese raises your chance for experiencing medical conditions, like type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and certain malignancies.

Obesity impacts people in every country and was associated with 3.7 million deaths worldwide in 2024, per the health agency.