MPP is delighted to announce that it will be co-hosting a side-event at this year’s International Congress on Obesity (ICO) in Mexico City between 15 and 17 July 2026. With partners the World Obesity Federation (WOF), the International Diabetes Federation (IDF), and the World Heart Federation (WHF), the session will focus on the following important question:
Equitable access to obesity treatment in low- and middle-income countries: aspirational goal or achievable public health priority?
This session will build on the recent paper published jointly in the Lancet Global Health by IDF, MPP, WHF and WOF highlighting the growing significance of GLP-1 therapies for obesity care and the urgent need to ensure equitable access, particularly in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).
Too often narrowly framed as an issue of individual behavior, obesity has long been low on the list of priorities for governments and global health agencies, despite its major contribution to multimorbidity and premature mortality.
But with the inclusion of GLP-1 therapies on the WHO Model List of Essential Medicines and the publication of WHO’s first global guideline on the use of GLP-1 therapies for the long-term treatment of obesity in adults, there is now an important opportunity to reframe obesity as a chronic disease requiring both prevention and treatment.
Treatment is only possible, however, if medicines are accessible. Greater access requires a coordinated, end-to-end approach spanning evidence generation, policy development, implementation and delivery. The session will explore access by examining awareness, availability, health system preparedness, affordability and adoption, with a particular focus on LMICs. Its focus will be on how global health partners can and should work together to define a shared access agenda and advance equitable access to GLP-1 therapies.
Agenda
Date and time: Wednesday 15 July 2026 from 12:25 – 13:50 Location: The World Trade Center Mexico City, Filadelfia s/n, Nápoles, Benito Juárez, 03810 Ciudad de México Venue: Olmeca room 1 (350 participants) Hosts: MPP, IDF, WHF, WOF
The following experts will be speaking at this event:
Press and Media
The Medicines Patent Pool (MPP) is a United Nations-backed public health organisation working to increase access to and facilitate the development of innovative medicines and other health technologies for low- and middle-income countries. Through its innovative business model, MPP partners with civil society, governments, international organisations, industry, patient groups, and other stakeholders to prioritise and license needed health products and pool intellectual property to encourage generic manufacture and the development of new formulations.
To date, MPP has signed agreements with 23 patent holders for 13 HIV antiretrovirals, one HIV technology platform, three hepatitis C direct-acting antivirals, a tuberculosis treatment, a cancer treatment, four long-acting technologies, a post-partum haemorrhage medicine, one antiviral treatment for influenza, three oral antiviral treatments for COVID-19 and 16 COVID-19 technologies.
MPP was founded by Unitaid, which continues to be MPP’s main funder. MPP’s work on access to essential medicines is also funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), Government of Canada and Coeffient Giving. MPP’s activities in technology transfer are undertaken with the financial support of the Japanese Government, the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs, the German Agency for International Cooperation, the Government of Flanders and SDC.