Ghana Association of Public Health Technical Officers (GAPHTO) is a professional association basically engaged in public health activities at the national, regional, district and sub-district levels in Ghana. Majority of the key public health programmes and projects implementation are carried out by our members in collaboration with other health care professionals in Ghana.
The association initially started in 1984 for disease control officers and field technicians but later transformed into an amalgamation of disease control, nutrition and health information officers association called Public Health Technical Officers Group (PUHTOG). It was officially inaugurated in 2006 at Korle-BU, Accra. The focus was to bring all the Technical officers trained in Rural Health Training School – Kintampo in the Brong Ahafo region of Ghana (College of Health) into one professional body with interest in public health.
The desire to make it a formidable professional association continued with numerous suggestions from members and key stakeholders in Ghana Health Service (GHS) and Ministry of Health (MoH). In 2009 the association was re-named Ghana Association of Public Health Technical Officers (GAPHTO) at Cape Coast conference which paved the way for clear direction of the association with new appointed executives and modified constitution.
The association operated mainly from Kumasi for some years in the initial formation and later in Central region before it was sited permanently in Accra. Majority of the pioneers who struggled to get the association on a good pedestal did not actually see the fruits of their labour due to retirements but some continue to offer good counsel in times of need.
We acknowledge the efforts of all the founding officials and initial executives who worked tirelessly to ensure we have a technical officers association in Ghana.
