The World Health Organization has released global recommendations for treating obesity in children and adolescents. For children under 10, the WHO advises prioritizing healthy eating, physical activity, and behavioral support, Reuters reports, according to infohub.kz.
As for weight-loss medications, they should be considered only for adolescents after other methods have failed. Bariatric surgery may be considered for physically and mentally mature adolescents with severe obesity after six months of unsuccessful treatment.
Lus Maria De Regil, Director of the Department of Nutrition and Food Safety, said there is still insufficient data on GLP-1 medications.
"The foundation of treating obesity in children and adolescents is not medicine or surgery, but access to support that enables healthy eating, physical activity, and behavioral change," she emphasized.
Some GLP-1 medications have already been approved for weight loss in children. For example, Wegovy and Saxenda can be used by adolescents aged 12 and older in the US and EU. In the EU, Saxenda is also authorized for some children aged 6 to 11.
According to WHO, in 2024, 400 million children and adolescents aged 5 to 19 were overweight, of whom 170 million had obesity.
Earlier, Kursiv wrote that one in five children aged 6 to 9 in Kazakhstan is overweight.