The World Health Organization told Reuters that anti-obesity drugs may be included for the first time on the organization’s “list of essential medicines,” a list that guides governments in low- and middle-income countries when making purchasing decisions.
Next month, a panel of WHO advisers will review the new applications for drug listings, and an updated list of essential medicines is due in September, according to the agency.
According to Reuters, the request to study obesity drugs was submitted by three doctors and a researcher in the United States, and it includes liraglutide, which is found in the drug Saxenda for Novo Nordisk, which will soon be able to be imitated in cheaper versions.
And the decision of the committee in the Health Organization is not settled, as it is possible to accept or request more evidence regarding the necessity of including the drug for treating obesity in the list. But the inclusion decision will represent a new approach for the WHO towards addressing obesity.
However, some public health experts warn against widespread adoption of such drugs as the answer to obesity.
“Obesity is a growing health problem in many countries,” a spokesperson for the World Health Organization said, stressing that “obesity medications are only one aspect of the solution.”
According to the World Health Organization, more than 650 million adults worldwide suffer from obesity, three times the rate in 1975, and an estimated 1.3 billion more are overweight.
Most of them, or an estimated 70 percent, live in low- and middle-income countries.
A previous report, released in early March, revealed that more than half of the world’s population will be overweight or obese by 2035.
In its 2023 atlas, the International Obesity Federation predicts that 51 percent of the world’s population, or more than four billion people, will suffer from obesity or overweight during the next twelve years, according to Reuters.
The report stated that obesity rates are rising rapidly, especially among children and in low-income countries.
World Obesity Federation president Louise Power called the data a “clear warning” and said policy makers needed to act now to prevent the situation from worsening.
“It is very concerning to see obesity rates rising even faster among children and adolescents,” she said in a statement.
“Governments and policy makers around the world must do everything they can to avoid passing the health, social and economic cost on to younger generations,” she added.
The report stated that childhood obesity may more than double 2020 levels, reaching 208 million boys and 175 million girls by 2035.
The International Obesity Federation said the cost to society of overweight-related health conditions would be significant, exceeding $4 trillion annually by 2035, equivalent to 3 percent of global gross domestic product.
However, the authors of the report said that they do not blame individuals, but rather call for a focus on the societal, environmental and biological factors for these conditions.
