BAGUIO CITY (PIA) — The Philippine Society of Sleep Medicine (PSSM) stepped up its campaign on critical role of sleep to the overall health and well-being with the launching of “Project Himbing” in Baguio City on June 4, 2026.
Project Himbing, a flagship advocacy program of the PSSM, is a nationwide sleep health initiative that promotes the importance of healthy sleep and improves recognition and management of common, often underdiagnosed sleep disorders in the communities.
The goal is to educate communities on the importance of healthy sleep and the impact of sleep disorders on physical, mental, and overall well-being and to equip local healthcare providers with practical screening tools and guidance to improve detection and management of sleep disorders and to help establish sleep-related services, including home sleep apnea testing and sleep centers.
According to PSSM president Dr. Jimmy Chang, the event aims to help promote sleep health across the country and to improve access of Filipinos to services related to sleep health.
“Napansin kasi namin karamihan ng mga sleep doctors at sleep facilities, nasa malalaking cities lang particularly Metro Manila, Cebu, Davao. Pero ‘yung mga regions, mga more remote regions, wala halos sleep doctors. For example, dito sa Cordillera, buong Cordillera, dalawa lang ang sleep center, dalawa lang ang sleep doctors. So, inisip namin, hindi namin kaya as a society na 98 lang kaming sleep doctors to address ‘yung sleep needs ng buong bansa. That’s why kailangan namin i-equip ‘yung mga maliliit na hospitals, ‘yung mga primary health caregivers kung papaano mag-screen ng pasyente, paano magbigay ng initial treatment, kailan mag-refer, saan i-refer, para matulungan talaga ‘yung mga Pilipino sa mga regions na walang access sa sleep health,” Chang said.
This event which was co-organized by the Baguio Central General Hospital and Medical Center (BGHMC), in collaboration with the Department of Health, was participated by 56 Ear, Nose, and Throat specialists, internal medicine physicians, nurses, DOH staff, BGHMC clerks and interns.
“The biggest obstacle or having a better sleep is that we have high statistic of obesity also. There’s a lot of us with comorbidities like hypertension. I think for every family there’s someone we know who is snoring and, it’s undiagnosed din itong mga obstructed sleep apnea niya. And the absence of a sleep specialist here in Cordillera, before is one of the biggest obstacle in addressing or treating sleep disturbances. Now that we are informed, we already have two sleep specialists in the person of Dr. Castro and Dr. Beverly,” said Dr. Eden Dangwa, Chief of Itogon District Hospital.
Following the launch was the soft opening of the Baguio BGHMC Sleep Laboratory, which according to the DOH-CAR is the first government-owned sleep laboratory in North Luzon.
Towards achieving its goal of promoting the importance of healthy sleep and supporting the development of sleep-related services, the PSSM is backed by prominent medical technology and industry partners which include Philips, PAP & Sleep DIsorder Clinic, ResWerkes, Quality Sleep Philippines, PraxisMed Technologies Inc., The Air Station, Resmed, Sleepwell, and DuraMed Plus. **JDP/DEG-PIA CAR w/ UC intern Angela Espiritu)
