Serbia, 19 - 25 May

The Changing Diabetes® Bus visited Serbia from 19 to 25 May 2009. During the tour, the bus visited  four cities: Belgrade (Serbia’s capital) on 19 and 20 May 2009, Novi Sad on 21 and 22 May, Nis (23 and 24 May 2009) and finally Kragujevac on 25t May.

Serbia has 7,4 million inhabitants. It is estimated that 500.000 Serbians have type 2 diabetes and that another 500.000 have increased risk of getting it.  Lifestyle choices and risks associated with these were therefore one of the focus areas when the bus visited Serbia.

In total, more than 8.200 people visited the Changing Diabetes ® Bus and almost 7.000 blood sugar tests were performed. In each city ,an opening ceremony was organised with state and cities officials. Specialists, general practitioners and nurses offered consultations inside the bus. The visitors were also invited to take a risk assessment, have their blood sugar or, HbA1c measured and finally go through a health check including  blood pressure, waist measure and weight. Hundreds of visitors realised that they had diabetes and about one hundred of them got appointment in the hospital for insulin initiation due to bad control. Healthy lifestyle was promoted through information and activities such as fresh fruit distribution and a Nintendo Wii® tennis tournament.

In March 2009, Novo Nordisk initiated, in partnership with the Serbian Ministry of Health and the Serbian National Healthcare Fund, a Changing Diabetes® campaign targeting the general public and healthcare professionals (general practitioners and specialists). The visit of the Changing Diabetes® bus in Serbia was part of this joint campaign between the Ministry of Health and Novo Nordisk.