# Public Health and Disease in How the Other Half Lives

> Theme guide for How the Other Half Lives by Jacob Riis.

Riis documents the deadly impact of unsanitary living conditions, including outbreaks of typhus, smallpox, and high infant mortality, and criticizes the inadequate public health response.

## Where it surfaces

- [I: Genesis of the Tenement](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/how_the_other_half_lives_se/chapters/i-genesis-of-the-tenement): High mortality rates, cholera epidemics, and deaths from suffocation in unventilated rooms are documented, with death rates as high as 75 per 1,000 in some tenements.
- [II: The Awakening](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/how_the_other_half_lives_se/chapters/ii-the-awakening): The threat of cholera and smallpox drives reform, and the chapter highlights the link between tenement conditions and disease.
- [VI: The Bend](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/how_the_other_half_lives_se/chapters/vi-the-bend): Sanitary conditions are dire, with health inspectors finding rooms at 115°F, babies dying for lack of fresh air, and the official reduction of breathing space to 400 cubic feet per adult.
- [XII: The Bohemians—Tenement-House Cigarmaking](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/how_the_other_half_lives_se/chapters/xii-the-bohemians-tenement-house-cigarmaking): Discusses cases of consumption possibly linked to tobacco fumes, but notes that death records do not show a high rate among Bohemians.
- [Waifs of the City’s Slums](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/how_the_other_half_lives_se/chapters/xvi-waifs-of-the-city-s-slums): The high mortality rates among foundlings and the conditions in baby-farms reflect public health crises.
- [XXII: The Wrecks and the Waste](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/how_the_other_half_lives_se/chapters/xxii-the-wrecks-and-the-waste): The insane asylums are overcrowded, with a constant increase in patients, and the strain of poverty and overwork is cited as contributing to mental illness.
- [XXIV: What Has Been Done](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/how_the_other_half_lives_se/chapters/xxiv-what-has-been-done): Highlights improvements in air, sunlight, ventilation, and water supply as critical to the moral and physical redemption of tenement dwellers.
- [Appendix](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/how_the_other_half_lives_se/chapters/appendix): Death rates, child mortality, and the number of sick poor visited by doctors underscore the public health crisis linked to overcrowded tenements.
- [Endnotes](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/how_the_other_half_lives_se/chapters/endnotes): References to unventilated rooms, fever-breeding structures, and mortality tables for children under five underscore public health concerns.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/how_the_other_half_lives_se/themes/public_health_and_disease
- Themes index: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/how_the_other_half_lives_se/themes