“Open the Blue Circle” – Fighting diabetes through physical activity and humanity

Diabetes is a pandemic of the 21st century, and, on average, each tenth resident of our planet is fighting this problem. The estimate is that 642 million people will have diabetes by 2040. What is especially noticeable is that, today, more than two thirds of the patients who have diabetes live in cities. Some of the most common causes of this dangerous disease are a fast and unhealthy lifestyle, insufficient physical activity, stress, obesity, but also not being well informed about prevention.

The initiative “Open the Blue Circle” has offered a solution. Opening the circle means creating new conditions for physical activity, primarily through organized walks that this project envisages.

On the World Diabetes Day, four years ago, the free app “Otvori plavi krug” (“Open the Blue Circle”) was launched. It provides a lot of useful information about health to the users, but it primarily enables them to apply for organized walks and free Nordic walking courses.

When asked “why walks”, the “Open the Blue Circle” community says that walking is the oldest and physiologically healthiest form of physical activity. It can be practiced at any age and with any health condition.

– There are numerous benefits to walking, and among the most important ones are improving the health of the heart and the blood vessels, improving blood circulation, preventing bone disease, repairing joint tissue and reducing inflammation, burning calories efficiently, balancing the stress hormone, improving the mood and mental health. As it takes two and a half hours of moderate aerobic physical activity a week to prevent blood sugar disease and obesity, walking is the best choice and the endocrinologist’s recommendation. All the organized walks within the “Open the Blue Circle” project are done under the supervision of medical nurses and professional trainers, who try to turn the walks into a kind of a minor exercise adapted to the participants. Our walkers simultaneously exercise, socialize and educate themselves – they say for eKapija.

(Nordic walking)

Walks of varying intensities are organized, which are adapted to the walkers relative to their health and fitness, and with the recommendation of the doctors and training who are always available for advice – to measure the blood sugar before and after the walk, to estimate the individual capability and to provide every other form of support.

– All our group walks are very well-visited, both those that we organize in the nature and those on the health paths in the city. They are especially dear to us because we took part in their renewal and reconstruction, such as the paths in Bajfordova Street and the Zvezdara Forest, as well as the health paths on Ada Ciganlija. Every month, we award our most active walkers, pointing out that we have recognized their dedication and effort. We don’t just award them for the success they’ve achieved, but also for helping raise awareness of the importance and significance of physical activity – the “Open the Blue Circle” community says.

Said app is also meant to record the steps made and that’s what the walkers like the most, because they don’t just walk for their own health, but also for the health of many others. To clarify, when the project began, by collecting a certain number of kilometers, the walkers secured donations for improving the conditions for the prevention and suppression of diabetes and obesity in cities throughout Serbia. After that, the walks were dedicated to spreading the awareness of the importance of physical activity outside Belgrade and expanding the project outside the capital city, so they organized group walks in Cacak, Nis, Novi Sad and Nordic walking courses in Subotica and Kragujevac.

– So far, over 5,000 people have downloaded the app and we have over 700-800 daily active users. The very fact that, in the past period, five donations worth a total of RSD 5 million have been secured, is encouraging enough – they say for our portal.



As they add, children are the treasure of this world and, it seems, the biggest inspiration for the “Open the Blue Circle” community. This year, the goal is to help two children’s camps and to traverse 100,000 kilometers in six months.

– We launched the walking campaign for donations to camps for children with diabetes in mid-February, and in March already, we broke many records. So far, we have traversed 65,000 kilometers thanks to the tireless legs of our walkers and their incredible effort to help these small children.

We are moving in the right direction toward also activating this donation by the company Novo Nordisk and support the two most important summer camps for children in our country, which are organized by the Diabetes Association of Serbia and the Association of Societies for Fighting Diabetes. It was precisely Novo Nordisk that organized the first summer camp in Mitrovac on the Tara Mountain 30 years ago, looking to help children face their disease and realize that it is possible to have a good life with diabetes, with regular controls, an adequate therapy, a proper diet and regular physical activity.

Just like three decades ago, today as well, one of the key goals of the camp is for children with diabetes to be encouraged to accept their condition and understand that it is not an obstacle to realizing the biggest personal ambitions – the “Open the Blue Circle” community explains.

The expansion of the project to cities throughout Serbia is a big endeavor they are striving for. After Belgrade, they have already expanded activities to other areas. As they say, none of it would have been possible without the big support that they get from local patients’ associations and sports associations, as well as local health institutions.

– Our biggest wish is for this concept of joint physical activity to continue its life even outside the “Open the Blue Circle” project. Of course, we will continue securing new donations, renewing health paths, organizing numerous physical activities, supporting new camps for children suffering from diabetes and obesity, but the most important thing is to raise awareness among our fellow citizens of the importance of physical activity and prevention, for walking to become our habit, and humanity our additional motivation – they conclude in the conversation with eKapija.

The ”Open the Blue Circle” project is part of the global initiative “Cities Changing Diabetes”, and it is realized through the joint cooperation and support of the City Assembly of Belgrade, the Faculty of Medicine, the Diabetes Association of Serbia, the Association of Patients with Type 2 Diabetes “Krug dvojke Srbije”, the Association of Diabetes Patients of the City of Belgrade “Plavi krug”, the Belgrade Running Club, the Embassy of the Kingdom of Denmark in Serbia, the company Novo Nordisk and the portal Stetoskop.info.

Aleksandra Kekic

Novo Nordisk Pharma d.o.o. Beograd

Dijabetološki savez Srbije

Grad Beograd

Medicinski fakultet Beograd

Plavi Krug Beograd

BRC Beograd

Ambasada Kraljevine Danske Beograd

Otvori plavi krug

Open the Blue Circle

Novo Nordisk

Diabetes Association of Serbia

Association of Societies for Fighting Diabetes

Faculty of Medicine Belgrade

Association of Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Krug dvojke Srbije

Association of Diabetes Patients of the City of Belgrade Plavi krug

diabetes

diabetes prevention

organized walks

Nordic walking

free Nordic walking course

recording steps made

Cities Changing Diabetes