Children over 10 can be prescribed obesity drugs – new WHO guidelines

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By Daniel Pye

Children older than 10 can be prescribed weight loss jabs and similar drugs if changing lifestyle does not work, the first global guidelines on childhood obesity from the World Health Organization say.

The WHO has published the guidelines to address the quadruple rise in child and adolescent obesity across the world since 1990.

Currently, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) only recommends orlistat, which is not a weight loss jab, for children aged 12 who are obese and have serious physical and mental health co-morbidities.

In 2024, 170 million children and adolescents aged 5 to 19 years were living with obesity, the WHO said. This includes 70 million children aged 5 to 9 years, but the guidelines strongly recommend not prescribing weight loss medication, devices or bariatric surgery to those under 10.

Treatment with approved medicines may only be considered when a supervised lifestyle programme has not achieved results, the guidelines state.