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WHO's first global guidelines on child and adolescent obesity: lifestyle care first, no medicines under 10
Closed: we stopped updating this record on 7 October 2026. WHO's own pages have the current guidance.
Topics · Topic record
Obesity
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Where things stand
- ClosedWHO's first global guidelines on child and adolescent obesity: lifestyle care first, no medicines under 10
Closed: we stopped updating this record on 7 October 2026. WHO's own pages have the current guidance.
Key facts
- The World Health Organization released its first guidelines on obesity in children and adolescents, setting out how health systems and health workers should deliver care. World Health Organization
- WHO does not recommend medicines, weight-loss surgery or weight-loss devices for children aged 0 to 9. World Health Organization
- Adolescents aged 10 to 19 may be considered for approved weight-loss medicines, but only after a supervised lifestyle programme combining several approaches has failed to work. Surgery may be considered for adolescents with severe obesity, under strict conditions. World Health Organization
Timeline
- The World Health Organization released its first guidelines on obesity in children and adolescents, setting out how health systems and health workers should deliver care. World Health Organization
- On 1 December 2025 WHO issued its first guideline on GLP-1 medicines for obesity, conditionally recommending them for long-term treatment in adults, excluding pregnant women. World Health Organization
- WHO put GLP-1 medicines on its Essential Medicines List on 5 September 2025, for treating type 2 diabetes in people at high risk. World Health Organization