The author, Ciro A. de Quadros, articulates challenges he faced in his quest to eliminate diseases and improve healthcare among locals across parts of South America, America and Africa. However, the exercises yielded positive results through a number of his characteristics that form the message he communicates in the text.

He showcases how effective leadership skills were vital in running various health programs he was assigned lead. Quadros was posted in Brazil right after graduating from University. Nevertheless, he successfully managed a team of local health officers and together they achieved a record immunization rate and improved community heath. Another example is when he led a team of 30 to run a vaccination program for 25 million people in Ethiopia. Despite rough environmental conditions in the region and setbacks emanating from his team, Quadros supervised the members and they uncovered numerous neglected cases of smallpox in a community that was cold to them at first.

Resource management is another key lesson learned from the text. The undertaking to eradicate smallpox in Ethiopia was faced with limited basic resources like food and water. Hence, Quadros and his team had to effectively use what they had to accomplish the mission. He remarks that for a long period of time, he did not take a decent meal and he had to dig a river bed to drink water. Even when it came to vital resources like vehicles, the team had to appropriately use what they had after the malaria program denied them some. The final message communicated by the author is that when leading a community health program, it is always important to start by setting piece-wise goals that must be achieved for the whole process to succeed. This was evident when he was chosen to lead a polio vaccination in America. His objectives included obtaining funds for the project and later effecting it step-by-step.

Besides, the author passes additional and important concepts in achieving the goals he was sent to accomplish. His ability to strike a spirit of coordination with team members was evident when he arrived in Brazil for his first assignment. He laid out the agenda and team members suggested that vaccination could be done in the local clinic, and local midwives could help track down newborns.

Based on these suggestions, the team designed strategies on how to handle health needs of the locals. Ability to learn and incorporate local culture is also seen to be vital in creating a good foundation for their community based health approach. When local culture is considered, it becomes easier to formulate plans that encourage locals to turn up. His dedication to understanding locals must have been the reason behind their warmth when health workers made home visits.

He remarks that they were given food followed by spirited discussions on how to improve health around them. In the end, the team achieved 100% immunization in Altamira, a rate that had never been attained anywhere else. In Ethiopia, the author talks of a time when he was about to resign from his work. However, the positive experience he had gained from interacting and helping locals changed his mind.

Based on the experiences of the author, my take on eliminating diseases and improving community health is that it should be founded on developing communities economically and socially first. This could solve accessibility and religious issues that undermined the author’s health program in Ethiopia. Besides, community health development should focus more on educating locals so that they can practice healthy living on their own without depending on foreign doctors who come and leave after their projects are complete.