The Global Health Body Raises Warning Over Severe Shortage of Obesity Medications

Under one in 10 people eligible to benefit from weight-loss injections like Wegovy have access to them, warns the World Health Organization as it publishes its first advice on the therapies.

Considering more than one billion people worldwide currently living with obesity, it is urging increased and just access to these injectable treatments.

Based on forecasts, over two billion could be living with obesity by 2030 without intervention.

"The new guidance recognises that obesity is a long-term condition that can be managed with holistic and continuous support," said the agency's head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

Significant expense, insufficient output, and logistical bottlenecks are key barriers to widespread availability to the injections that can help people shift significant weight, explains the agency.

GLP-1 Therapy Supply Crisis

Even in the current best projected scenario, the manufacturing of these medications might only reach around 100 million people – less than 10% of eligible patients, according to the WHO.

The advice urges nations and manufacturers to expand availability, via approaches including voluntary licensing.

Exclusive production rights on a key compound – the main ingredient of Novo Nordisk's Wegovy – is set to lapse in several countries in 2026.

How Obesity Jabs Operate

These medications mimick a biological compound to delay gastric emptying, suppress the appetite and increase the sense of being full so users eat less.

Individuals commonly see weight reduction in the initial weeks of commencing the regular doses.

Research indicates users may see weight return within a year of halting the drug, because their typical food cravings resume.

To be above a healthy weight increases your risk for developing diseases, such as diabetes, cardiovascular issues, stroke, and specific malignancies.

Excess weight concerns individuals in all nations and was associated with over three and a half million fatalities worldwide in 2024, according to the health agency.