The UK government has announced a five-year trial with pharmaceutical giant Lilly to test whether the weight-loss drug Mounjaro can help unemployed people with obesity get back to work and ease the strain on the NHS in England by preventing obesity-related illnesses. However, the announcement has prompted a backlash, with accusations that the government is stigmatising unemployed individuals. Despite this, Health Secretary Wes Streeting has dismissed the criticisms, saying that the jabs are part of a broader healthcare plan.
Streeting told Laura Kunsberg that there was already a lot of evidence that these jabs combined with changes to diet and exercise can help people reduce their weight and prevent cardiovascular disease and diabetes. He cautioned, however, that the government did not want to create a “dependency culture”.
The NHS’s latest Health Survey for England shows that in 2022, 29% of adults in England were obese, and 64% were deemed overweight. Illnesses relating to obesity cost the NHS £11bn a year, Streeting said. Obesity has also been linked to the development of type 2 diabetes, with the NHS spending around £10bn a year to care for people with diabetes.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer previously told the BBC that the jabs would be “very helpful” to people who want and need to lose weight. He also highlighted the drug’s importance for the NHS, stating that the healthcare system needs to “[think] differently” to address the challenges posed by obesity-related illnesses.
In summary, while the UK government’s plan to provide weight loss jabs to unemployed people with obesity has faced criticism from some quarters, Health Secretary Wes Streeting has defended it as part of a broader healthcare plan. The government hopes that these jabs, combined with changes to diet and exercise, will help people reduce their weight, prevent obesity-related illnesses, and enable them to return to work
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