Use of essential drugs in rural Ghana.

In this article, a drug utilization study in 15 district hospitals and 2 health centers in Ghana is described. Use of 94 essential drugs was measured over 2.5 million treatment episodes during 1981-1982. It was found that much less is spent on drugs in health centers than in hospitals, expressed in cost per 10,000 treatment episodes. In hospitals with Ghanaian doctors, about twice as much is spent on drugs as in hospitals with expatriate doctors. Particular therapeutic groups and drugs for which larger quantities are used are also analyzed. Possible reasons for and consequences of these differences are discussed. The results of this study form the most reliable records currently available on drug utilization in Ghana. They record the actual drug use, that is, the total drug use within existing patterns of prescription and losses. These figures have been used for a consumption-based estimate of drug requirements for 64 church-related district hospitals and health centers.