Many rebetiko composers have written songs about tuberculosis, which during the interwar period in Greece became a social evil. Regarding the factors that influenced the spread of the disease, Vasiliki Theodorou (Malnutrition and tuberculosis during the interwar period, Society for the Study of Modern Hellenism-Mnimon magazine, issue 30, Athens, 2009) points out the following: "While in the 1910s many tended to highlight ignorance as a factor in the spread of the disease, in the 1930s they began to focus on the effects that inflation, unhealthy housing and low consumption of animal protein had on the health of people. The increase in the number of victims and the inability of the state to treat patients had fueled the debate over possible solutions. N. Oikonomopoulos, director of the Sotiria sanatorium in the 1920s, believed that raising the 'economic level of the people' and increasing funds to meet the real needs of public and social hygiene were necessary conditions for the beginning of the fight against tuberculosis by the State. For Oikonomopoulos, social inequalities were at the root of the problem, which is why the relationship between economic and health policy was close. As Lampadarios also mentions in a report of his to the Ministry of Education, in 1931, regarding the fight for the prevention of tuberculosis: 'Any attempt in this area will fail if we ignore certain sociological conditions which can neutralize all measures against tuberculosis, and these are inflation, which makes it difficult to obtain good and cheap food, the lack of cheap housing, unemployment and the lack of social security.'" According to the National Public Health Organization: "Tuberculosis remains a major public health problem, being one of the most common infections in the world and the most common infectious cause of death."