Introduction

The introduction lays out the approach and themes of the book, namely, how tuberculosis is written into the history of Singapore as a city-state. Both the prevalence and control of the disease highlighted Singapore’s wide-ranging economic, social and medical connections with the region and the world, and locally, the typology of working-class housing in the town area. The introduction also discusses the long history of tuberculosis in Singapore from the second half of the nineteenth century, the state’s prominent role in tuberculosis control, and the important social history of the disease. The introduction ends with an outline of the shape of the book and its chapters.