International Journal of
MediPharm Research

This study analyzed medicine consumption and related expenditure across 31 health facilities under the Christian Health Association of Ghana (CHAG) to identify usage trends of essential medicines and inform the development of a digital pharmaceutical supply chain management system for CHAG providers. A one-year retrospective, cross-sectional review of drug consumption and expenditure data was conducted using the Always Better Control (ABC) analytical framework. Medicines were classified into three categories based on their contribution to total annual consumption: Category A (top 80%), Category B (next 15%), and Category C (lowest 5%). The top twenty Category A essential medicines were further categorized according to their Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical (ATC) codes to determine the therapeutic groups with the highest utilization. The total expenditure on essential medicines in 2016 was GHS 29,327,267 (US$6,665,288) for hospitals and GHS 2,923,561 (US$664,445) for clinics. The ABC analysis indicated that 23.9% of hospital medicines accounted for 79.4% of the total drug budget, while 31.5% of clinic medicines accounted for 79.5% of the budget, representing Category A items. ATC categorization of the top twenty medicines highlighted a predominance of antibiotic use, which corresponded with the highest costs for the facilities. The findings demonstrate that ABC and ATC analyses provide an effective framework for prioritizing essential medicines, guiding expenditure management, and supporting cost-effective decision-making. In preparation for CHAG’s planned digital supply chain system, this approach offers valuable insights for optimizing medicine selection, improving resource allocation, and achieving significant cost savings on high-value medications. Keywords: Medicine utilization; Consumption trends; Healthcare providers; Health facilities; Pharmaceutical supply chain; Therapeutic classification.