WHO Raises Concern Over Critical Lack of Weight-Loss Injections

Under 10% of patients that would benefit from GLP-1 drugs like Wegovy are able to get them, caution the global health agency as it releases its inaugural advice on the medications.

With more than one billion people worldwide now classified as obese, it is advocating for increased and just access to these injectable treatments.

According to estimates, over two billion are projected to be obese by 2030 if no action is taken.

"Our new guidelines acknowledges that obesity is a long-term condition that can be managed with comprehensive and continuous treatment," said the agency's head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

Significant expense, insufficient output, and supply-chain constraints are significant hurdles to universal access to the jabs that can help people shift significant weight, explains the organization.

Skinny Jab Supply Crisis

Despite the current most optimistic case, the supply of such drugs might only reach around 100 million people – less than 10% of eligible patients, according to the WHO.

The advice urges countries and companies to widen access, by measures including patent sharing.

The intellectual property rights on a key compound – the primary ingredient of a leading brand – is set to lapse in multiple nations in 2026.

How Weight-Loss Jabs Operate

The injections mimick a body's own hormone to reduce digestion speed, suppress the appetite and boost the sense of being full so users reduce food intake.

Patients commonly start to lose weight within a few weeks of starting on the regular doses.

Evidence suggests patients may regain a significant portion a year later of halting the drug, because their usual hunger resume.

Being carrying excess weight increases your risk for developing medical conditions, like type 2 diabetes, heart disease, brain attack, and specific malignancies.

Excess weight impacts people in all nations and was associated with 3.7 million deaths worldwide in 2024, per the health agency.