The 100-Year Life Health Education and Government
Weight-loss jabs could be given to unemployed Britons to help get them back to work. Wes Streeting, the health secretary, has announced a £279 million investment from US pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly in an attempt to tackle “widening waistbands”. Lilly, which created the Tirzepatide obesity drug, will conduct a five-year trial that will examine how the drug impacts not just weight loss but also employment status and sick days. Nearly 30 per cent of adults in England are obese, illnesses relating to obesity cost the UK economy nearly £100 billion a year, and almost three million people are out of work due to long-term sickness. So by these numbers, the plan is sound. But it bears further inspection. Mental health problems and musculoskeletal conditions are the primary reasons why people are too sick to work, not obesity. And basing decisions about who gets weight loss jabs primarily on potential economic value rather than health needs throws up an ethical question: who gets to be healthy?
