GLP-1 drugs in Jamaica: obesity, cost and who gets access

Jamaica's obesity bill: almost J$7 billion

In Jamaica the cost of obesity is already on the public books. Launching an expansion of NHFCard benefits in March 2026, the Minister of Health and Wellness, Dr Christopher Tufton, said: "Last year, 2025, the NHF spent almost $7 billion treating conditions that were linked to obesity", naming diabetes, cardiovascular disease and hypertension⁵. The National Health Fund (NHF) card now covers 28 chronic conditions, up from 24, after adding heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, bladder cancer and inflammatory bowel disease; together with wider PSA testing and a new echocardiogram benefit, the expansion adds about J$234 million in subsidies⁶.

The underlying numbers are stark. As the Jamaica Observer reported, one in eight Jamaicans aged 15 and older had diabetes in the 2016/2017 Jamaica Health and Lifestyle Survey; 92.5 % of them were on treatment but only 27.5 % had it controlled⁷. Citing the Pan American Health Organization, the Global Health Advocacy Incubator puts the share of Jamaican adults with overweight or obesity at 54 % and says noncommunicable diseases cause 80 % of deaths⁸. The Government itself has said that about seven in ten Jamaicans die from the four major noncommunicable diseases¹².

The Health Minister on GLP-1 drugs

Dr Tufton set out his own position in a January 2026 Jamaica Observer column titled "Is fat on the way to becoming extinct?" He summarised the STEP trials, in which semaglutide with lifestyle changes produced average weight loss of about 10 to 15 % over roughly a year, and stressed that the drugs worked best alongside nutrition, movement and medical support¹. "These are not supplements," he wrote: they are prescription medicines that need assessment, blood work, screening for contraindications and monitoring¹. He also warned that off-label demand has contributed to shortages for diabetic patients¹.

What the WHO now recommends

The global backdrop shifted in 2025. In September the World Health Organization (WHO) added semaglutide, dulaglutide, liraglutide and tirzepatide to its Essential Medicines List for adults with type 2 diabetes who also have cardiovascular or chronic kidney disease and obesity, and said that "high prices of medicines like semaglutide and tirzepatide are limiting access"⁴. Agence France-Presse reported that the WHO wants "generic competition to drive down prices", that these drugs can cost over US$1,000 a month in the United States, and that one researcher estimated generic semaglutide could be made in India for about US$4 a month³.

On 1 December 2025 the WHO issued its first global guideline on GLP-1 medicines for obesity. It contains two conditional recommendations, notes that obesity affects more than 1 billion people and was associated with 3.7 million deaths in 2024, and projects that GLP-1 therapies will reach "fewer than 10% of those who could benefit by 2030"². WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said: "GLP-1 therapies can help millions overcome obesity and reduce its associated harms"².

The evidence behind the demand

The clinical case is strong. In STEP 1, 1,961 adults with overweight or obesity lost a mean 14.9 % of body weight on semaglutide versus 2.4 % on placebo over 68 weeks⁹. In SURMOUNT-1, 2,539 adults lost 15.0 % to 20.9 % on tirzepatide versus 3.1 % on placebo over 72 weeks¹⁰. In SELECT, semaglutide reduced cardiovascular death, non-fatal heart attack or non-fatal stroke by 20 % in 17,604 adults with cardiovascular disease and overweight or obesity but no diabetes¹¹. Tolerability has a cost: 16.6 % of SELECT patients on semaglutide stopped because of adverse events, against 8.2 % on placebo¹¹.

The access gap and the grey market

The four conditions added to the NHF card in March 2026 do not include obesity, and the Observer's report on the expansion did not mention obesity medicines⁶. Where legitimate access is thin, informal supply fills the gap: the Chair of the Pharmacy Council of Jamaica, Dr Ernestine Watson, has said that Ozempic is advertised on Instagram and that such drugs "are often unregistered or not approved for distribution in Jamaica"¹³, and Dr Tufton has described a social media post offering the drug with the caption "DM to order"¹. For Jamaican physicians the question is no longer whether these drugs work, but which patients can get registered product, under supervision, at a price they can sustain.

What it means for Jamaican physicians

Three practical points follow. First, the patient in front of you may already be using a GLP-1 drug bought outside a pharmacy, so ask where it came from; the Minister has stressed that these drugs need assessment, blood work, screening for contraindications and monitoring¹. Second, the strongest evidence is for weight loss and, with semaglutide, for cardiovascular outcomes in people with established cardiovascular disease⁹¹¹; the WHO's diabetes listing targets adults with type 2 diabetes plus cardiovascular or kidney disease and obesity⁴. Third, the drugs are only part of the answer the Ministry is pursuing: the Government has paired its obesity message with a tax on sugary drinks, and with an NHF that is widening chronic-disease cover⁵⁶. Physicians are the ones who will have to explain to patients why a medicine that works is still hard to get.