World Health Organization Sounds Warning Over Acute Shortage of Obesity Injections
Less than 10% of individuals who could benefit from weight-loss injections such as Wegovy can access them, states the World Health Organization as it releases its first guidance on the medications.
Given over a billion individuals worldwide currently living with obesity, it is advocating for increased and just access to GLP-1 medication.
According to estimates, over two billion are projected to be living with obesity by 2030 without intervention.
"The new guidance affirms that excess weight is a lifelong illness that can be addressed with thorough and ongoing care," said the agency's head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
High costs, insufficient output, and logistical bottlenecks are key obstacles to universal access to the injections that can aid individuals in losing significant weight, explains the organization.
Skinny Jab Scarcity
Even in the present most favorable case, the manufacturing of these medications might only reach around 100 million people – fewer than 10% of those who need them, per the health organization.
The recommendation encourages countries and companies to widen availability, by strategies such as patent sharing.
The intellectual property rights on semaglutide – the main ingredient of Novo Nordisk's Wegovy – is scheduled to end in multiple countries in 2026.
The Way Weight-Loss Injections Operate
GLP-1 drugs imitate a natural hormone to delay gastric emptying, suppress the appetite and boost satiety so users consume fewer calories.
People commonly begin shedding pounds within a few weeks of beginning the once-weekly jabs.
Research suggests users may put most of the weight back on after a year of stopping the medication, when their usual food cravings resume.
To be above a healthy weight elevates your chance for contracting medical conditions, like type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and certain cancers.
Excess weight impacts people in every country and was linked to 3.7 million fatalities worldwide in 2024, as per the WHO.
