---
type: source
title: "WHO First-Ever GLP-1 Guidelines: Conditional Recommendation Requiring Behavioral Therapy Combination"
author: "World Health Organization"
url: https://www.who.int/news/item/01-12-2025-who-issues-global-guideline-on-the-use-of-glp-1-medicines-in-treating-obesity
date: 2025-12-01
domain: health
secondary_domains: []
format: guideline
status: unprocessed
priority: high
tags: [who, glp-1, obesity, guidelines, behavioral-therapy, global-health, equity, access, semaglutide, tirzepatide, liraglutide]
---

## Content

Note: The basic WHO announcement is already archived (2025-12-01-who-glp1-global-guidelines-obesity.md). This archive captures the additional dimension of the guideline specifically relevant to the GLP-1 adherence and behavioral therapy combination question, which was not the focus of the earlier archive.

**Conditional recommendation structure (not "do this always"):**
- WHO issued CONDITIONAL recommendations for GLP-1 use in obesity treatment
- Conditionality based on: limited long-term efficacy/safety data, current high costs, inadequate health-system preparedness, equity implications
- Three covered agents: liraglutide, semaglutide, tirzepatide

**The behavioral therapy requirement:**
- "WHO recommends long-term GLP-1 therapies combined with intensive behavioral therapy to maximize and sustain benefits"
- "Intensive behavioural interventions, including structured interventions involving healthy diet and physical activity, may be offered to adults living with obesity prescribed GLP-1 therapies"
- This is a formal guideline recommendation, not a suggestion — WHO is saying GLP-1 without behavioral therapy is not the standard of care

**Prioritization framework (coming 2026):**
- WHO announced it will develop "an evidence-based prioritization framework to identify which adults with obesity should be prioritized for GLP-1 treatment as supply and system capacity expand"
- Implies: not everyone with obesity should get GLP-1s — the drug should be rationed/targeted based on risk/benefit

**Equity concern as explicit limiting factor:**
- "Current global access and affordability remain far below population needs"
- GLP-1 medications should be incorporated into universal health coverage and primary care benefit packages
- But current costs prevent this at scale

**JAMA guideline summary citation:**
- Published simultaneously in JAMA (jamnetwork.com) — signals this guideline will influence clinical practice in the US, not just global health policy

## Agent Notes
**Why this matters:** This archive captures the BEHAVIORAL THERAPY component of the WHO guidelines specifically, which is directly relevant to the March 12 active thread on adherence interventions. WHO's conditional recommendation structure is important: it means "do this under specific conditions" not "do this universally." The conditions include behavioral support — which aligns with every piece of evidence from this session showing that medication alone is insufficient.

This is worth a separate archive from the basic WHO announcement because the behavioral therapy requirement is a global clinical standard that changes how the BALANCE model and capitation economics should be evaluated. If behavioral combination is the global standard of care, GLP-1 coverage policies that don't include it are substandard by WHO criteria.

**What surprised me:** The conditionality is notably cautious for WHO — they're explicitly saying the evidence doesn't yet support unconditional recommendation. This is not "approve GLP-1s globally immediately" — it's "these may be used under specific conditions, with behavioral support, targeted at appropriate populations." The BALANCE model's design mirrors this guidance almost exactly.

**What I expected but didn't find:** No specific definition of what "intensive behavioral therapy" means — this is left for individual health systems to operationalize. No threshold for what counts as "appropriate" behavioral support.

**KB connections:**
- Convergent evidence for: digital engagement study (JMIR), exercise + GLP-1 combination RCT finding, BALANCE model design — all now aligned with WHO global standard
- Supports scope qualification of existing GLP-1 claim: the "inflationary through 2035" framing doesn't reflect the emerging standard of care (medication + behavioral therapy), which may have different economics
- Adds international regulatory context that the existing archived version doesn't capture in depth

**Extraction hints:**
- CLAIM CANDIDATE: "WHO's first-ever GLP-1 guidelines establish medication-plus-behavioral-therapy as the global standard of care for obesity — making coverage policies that exclude behavioral support substandard by international criteria"
- The conditionality is also extractable: "WHO's conditional rather than unconditional GLP-1 recommendation reflects the field's genuine uncertainty about long-term outcomes, equity implications, and health system readiness"

**Context:** WHO guidelines don't directly control US clinical practice, but they carry significant weight in shaping FDA guidance, CMS coverage policies, and clinical society recommendations. The simultaneous JAMA publication signals this will influence US guidelines.

## Curator Notes (structured handoff for extractor)
PRIMARY CONNECTION: GLP-1 cost-effectiveness under capitation requires solving the adherence paradox (March 12 claim candidate)
WHY ARCHIVED: WHO formal guideline establishing behavioral therapy + GLP-1 as global standard of care — this changes the economic model analysis since behavioral support is now the baseline, not an add-on
EXTRACTION HINT: The conditional recommendation structure and the behavioral therapy requirement are the extractable elements. The basic fact of WHO approving GLP-1s is in the existing archive; this archive is specifically about the standard-of-care implications.
