Fewer than a tenth of patients eligible to benefit from obesity jabs like Wegovy are able to get them, warns the global health agency as it publishes its inaugural advice on the medications.
With more than one billion people worldwide currently obese, it is advocating for more widespread and fairer availability to these injectable treatments.
Per projections, over two billion are projected to be living with obesity by 2030 without intervention.
"The new guidance recognises that obesity is a lifelong illness that can be treated with thorough and lifelong treatment," remarked the agency's head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
High costs, constrained manufacturing, and distribution challenges are key hurdles to widespread availability to the treatments that can help people shift considerable body mass, says the organization.
Skinny Jab Scarcity
Even in the current most optimistic outlook, the manufacturing of these medications might only reach around 100 million people – fewer than 10% of the global need, per the WHO.
The recommendation encourages governments and firms to expand availability, through strategies like voluntary licensing.
A patent on semaglutide – the core component of a leading brand – is due to expire in several nations in 2026.
How Obesity Injections Function
The injections mimick a natural hormone to slow digestion, reduce hunger and increase the sense of being full so people consume fewer calories.
People typically begin shedding pounds within a few weeks of commencing the weekly injections.
Studies suggests patients may put most of the weight back on after a year of halting the treatment, when their typical hunger resume.
To be above a healthy weight increases your likelihood for developing health problems, including diabetes, heart disease, brain attack, and specific malignancies.
Obesity concerns people in countries worldwide and was linked to millions of deaths worldwide in 2024, as per the WHO.
