WHO advises against weight-loss drugs and surgery for children under 10 amid rising childhood obesity crisis

The World Health Organization has issued its first global guidance on managing obesity in children and adolescents, emphasising non-medical interventions and warning against using weight-loss medicines and surgery for those under 10, as childhood obesity rates soar worldwide.

The World Health Organization has urged caution over the use of weight-loss medicines, bariatric surgery and medical devices in children under 10, setting out its first global guidance on how obesity should be managed in children and adolescents. In the new recommendations, the agency says treatment for younger children should focus on structured support built around healthier eating, more physical activity and behaviour change, rather than medicines or surgery. For adolescents aged 10 to 19, approved drugs may be considered only if a supervised, comprehensive lifestyle programme has not worked, and surgery should be reserved for severe obesity under strict conditions.

The guidance arrives against a backdrop of a rapidly worsening childhood obesity crisis. The WHO says an estimated 170 million people aged 5 to 19 were living with obesity in 2024, including 70 million children aged 5 to 9 and 100 million adolescents aged 10 to 19. That figure marks a fourfold increase since 1990, when prevalence in that age group stood at 2 per cent, rising to 8 per cent. The agency describes obesity as a long-term, relapsing condition that can raise the risk of type 2 diabetes, heart disease and other non-communicable diseases early in life.

The WHO also says obesity care must account for mental health, not just body weight. Anxiety, depression, low self-esteem and difficulty managing emotions can drive unhealthy eating, less physical activity and social withdrawal, the agency says. It adds that care should be tailored to each child and family, with long-term follow-up and continuity of support. According to Luz María De Regil, who heads the WHO’s Department of Nutrition and Food Safety, the foundation of care is “not medicine or surgery, but access to comprehensive support that enables healthy eating, physical activity and sustainable behaviour change.”

The agency is also pressing governments to go beyond treatment and tackle the conditions that make obesity more likely. It says healthy food and exercise need to become more accessible and affordable through regulation, taxation and wider action across education, urban planning, transport and social protection. The WHO argues that treatment alone will not reverse the trend, and that prevention must start early if countries are to protect both the physical and emotional well-being of children.