Program Lead (Nutrition)
Ministry of Health (National Unity Government) of Myanmar, Myanmar (Burma)
Dr. Lwin Mar Hlaing is former section head and Acting Director of National Nutrition Centre (NNC) from Ministry of Health and Sports of Myanmar (March 2018 – January 2021). She started her career in nutrition as Nutrition Team Leader at the province level since 2007 and gained a strong understanding of nutrition problems in the community n Myanmar. Dr. Lwin Mar is a medical doctor and attained Master of Public Health (MPH) in 2009 from Yangon University of Public Health and PhD (Nutrition) in 2014 from Southeast Asian Ministers of Educational Organization Regional Center for Food and Nutrition (SEAMEO RECFON), University of Indonesia. During her doctorate training, she conducted a community-based randomized controlled trial which investigated the effect of iron supplementation, when provided with or without local food-based complementary feeding recommendations using Linear Programming Approach (WHO Optifood), on micronutrient, growth and gut Microbiota status of 12-23 month old Myanmar children (Clinical Trial Registry: NCT01758159).
Dr. Lwin Mar successfully managed the first comprehensive nation-wide Myanmar Micronutrient and Food Consumption Survey (MMFCS 2017-2018). As the person in charge of National Nutrition Centre, she has been leading the national nutrition programs in Myanmar, and nutrition laboratory for nutrient content analysis of foods to update Myanmar food composition database. Being aware of the importance of the multi-dimensional approach to tackle malnutrition, she also initiated and accomplished for the development the costed Multi-sectoral National Plan of Action on Nutrition (MS-NPAN) in close collaboration with relevant ministries (Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation; Social welfare, Relief and Resettlement; Education; Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation; Planning and Finance) and development partners.
Starting from April 2021, she has been working as the Focal Lead for Nutrition under the Ministry of Health of National Unity Government (MoH, NUG) to continue contributing for the Nutrition promotion activities inside the country. She also serves as the National Coordinator for Myanmar in the Iodine Global Network (IGN) since January 2020.