World Health Organization Sounds Alert Over Critical Shortage of Obesity Injections

Under 10% of people who could benefit from obesity jabs such as Wegovy are able to get them, warns the global health agency as it publishes its initial guidance on the therapies.

Considering more than one billion individuals worldwide now classified as obese, it is advocating for broader and more equitable availability to GLP-1 medication.

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

"The new guidelines affirms that excess weight is a chronic disease that can be addressed with comprehensive and lifelong treatment," stated WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

Significant expense, insufficient output, and logistical bottlenecks are major hurdles to widespread availability to the jabs that can assist patients in reducing considerable body mass, says the organization.

GLP-1 Therapy Scarcity

Even under the current best projected case, the supply of these medications might only reach approximately 100 million people – fewer than 10% of the global need, per the health organization.

The guideline calls on nations and manufacturers to widen access, through measures including voluntary licensing.

A patent on a key compound – the primary component of the drug Wegovy – is scheduled to end in several countries in 2026.

How Weight-Loss Drugs Work

These medications imitate a biological compound to delay gastric emptying, suppress the appetite and increase feelings of fullness so individuals reduce food intake.

Patients typically begin shedding pounds within a few weeks of starting on the once-weekly jabs.

Evidence points to patients may put most of the weight back on within a year of stopping the drug, when their normal appetite resume.

To be above a healthy weight increases your chance for experiencing diseases, such as type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular issues, brain attack, and specific cancers.

Obesity concerns individuals in countries worldwide and was responsible for millions of fatalities worldwide in 2024, as per the WHO.