GENEVA, Oct. 15 -- Children under 10 who have obesity should not be given weight-loss drugs, surgery or devices, the World Health Organization said on October 7 in its first global guidelines on the condition, and adolescents should be offered medicines only after a supervised lifestyle programme has failed.

The numbers behind the guidelines are large. In 2024, WHO said, 170 million people aged 5 to 19 were living with obesity, including 70 million children aged 5 to 9 and 100 million adolescents aged 10 to 19. Prevalence in that age group has quadrupled since 1990, from 2 percent to 8 percent.

What WHO strongly recommends is not medical. It wants structured dietary, physical activity and behaviour-changing interventions, delivered indi...