WHO says obesity is a chronic, relapsing disease needing lifelong care
The WHO released its first global guideline for GLP-1 obesity treatment, recognizing obesity as a chronic disease. Long-term care combined with therapy is key.
This week, the World Health Organization released its first global guideline on the use of GLP-1 therapies for the treatment of obesity in adults. Obesity is now clearly defined as a ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฟ๐ผ๐ป๐ถ๐ฐ, ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐น๐ฎ๐ฝ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ฑ๐ถ๐๐ฒ๐ฎ๐๐ฒ ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐พ๐๐ถ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐น๐ถ๐ณ๐ฒ๐น๐ผ๐ป๐ด ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฒ, not temporary solutions.
๐ช๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ด๐๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐น๐ถ๐ป๐ฒ ๐๐ฎ๐๐:
๐ธ WHO recommends ๐น๐ผ๐ป๐ด-๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐บ ๐๐๐ฃ-๐ญ ๐๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐๐บ๐ฒ๐ป๐ ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐๐น๐๐ ๐๐ถ๐๐ต ๐ผ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐๐ถ๐๐
๐ธ ๐๐ฒ๐๐ ๐ผ๐๐๐ฐ๐ผ๐บ๐ฒ๐ ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ต๐ถ๐ฒ๐๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ป ๐บ๐ฒ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป ๐ถ๐ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐บ๐ฏ๐ถ๐ป๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐๐ถ๐๐ต ๐ถ๐ป๐๐ฒ๐ป๐๐ถ๐๐ฒ ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ต๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐๐ฟ๐ฎ๐น ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ฝ๐ including diet, physical activity and structured support
๐ธ ๐ ๐ฒ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป ๐ฎ๐น๐ผ๐ป๐ฒ ๐๐ถ๐น๐น ๐ป๐ผ๐ ๐๐ผ๐น๐๐ฒ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ผ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐๐ถ๐๐ ๐ฐ๐ฟ๐ถ๐๐ถ๐
๐ธ ๐๐ผ๐๐ป๐๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฒ๐ ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐๐ฟ๐ด๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐๐ผ ๐ฏ๐๐ถ๐น๐ฑ ๐ฎ ๐ณ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ฟ, ๐ถ๐ป๐๐ฒ๐ด๐ฟ๐ฎ๐๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐๐๐๐๐ฎ๐ถ๐ป๐ฎ๐ฏ๐น๐ฒ ๐ผ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐๐ถ๐๐ ๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ผ๐๐๐๐๐ฒ๐บ, with prevention, early diagnosis, multimodal treatment and long-term follow-up at its core.
WHO further highlights that ๐ถ๐บ๐ฝ๐น๐ฒ๐บ๐ฒ๐ป๐๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ป๐ฑ๐ ๐ผ๐ป ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฒ๐๐, ๐ฝ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐ต๐ฒ๐ฎ๐น๐๐ต ๐๐๐๐๐ฒ๐บ๐ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐๐ผ๐ป-๐ฐ๐ฒ๐ป๐๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฒ, and explicitly points to ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ด๐ถ๐๐ฎ๐น ๐๐ผ๐ผ๐น๐ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐๐ฒ๐น๐ฒ๐ต๐ฒ๐ฎ๐น๐๐ต ๐ฎ๐ ๐ฒ๐ป๐ฎ๐ฏ๐น๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ of adherence, follow-up and patient empowerment.
๐ช๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐๐ต๐ถ๐ ๐บ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ป๐ ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐๐ฒ๐ปThis is exactly how we work. At Yazen Health, we combine modern obesity medications with dietitians, psychologists and long-term digital follow-up. Sustainable results come from treating obesity as the chronic disease it is
๐งก๐ Celletti et al. 2025. WHO Guideline on GLP-1 Therapies for Obesity. JAMA (based on WHO guideline): https://lnkd.in/dNEXk5Yy๐ WHO full guideline: https://lnkd.in/dN2rZhJj
More news
WOD26: Data Reveals Persistent Shame & Stigma Around Obesity Treatment
Ahead of World Obesity Day on 4 March, Yazen is sharing new findings from internal patient data, revealing that shame and stigma remain major barriers to obesity care โ even as effective medical treatments become more widely available.