The Global Health Body Raises Warning Over Acute Shortage of Weight-Loss Injections
Fewer than one in 10 individuals who could benefit from GLP-1 drugs like Wegovy have access to them, states the World Health Organization as it issues its first guidance on the drugs.
With over a billion people worldwide now classified as obese, it is urging more widespread and fairer availability to these injectable treatments.
According to projections, in excess of 2,000,000,000 will be living with obesity by 2030 without intervention.
"The new guidelines affirms that excess weight is a long-term condition that can be treated with comprehensive and lifelong care," said WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Significant expense, constrained manufacturing, and logistical bottlenecks are significant hurdles to widespread access to the treatments that can aid individuals in losing significant weight, notes the body.
Skinny Jab Supply Crisis
Even under the present most favorable scenario, the supply of such drugs would only suffice for about 100 million people – under 10% of eligible patients, according to the health organization.
The guideline encourages governments and firms to widen access, by approaches including patent sharing.
The intellectual property rights on semaglutide – the main ingredient of a leading brand – is set to lapse in multiple nations in 2026.
How Obesity Jabs Function
GLP-1 drugs imitate a natural hormone to reduce digestion speed, suppress the appetite and boost the sense of being full so people reduce food intake.
Patients commonly start to lose weight in the initial weeks of commencing the regular doses.
Research suggests people may regain a significant portion a year later of discontinuing the treatment, when their normal food cravings come back.
Being carrying excess weight increases your risk for developing medical conditions, including diabetes, cardiovascular issues, stroke, and some malignancies.
Obesity impacts people in every country and was associated with over three and a half million deaths worldwide in 2024, according to the health agency.
