Economist Jeffrey Sachs Good Health, Good Wealth

Photograph by Emily Shur Jeffrey Sachs spent the last decade of the 20th century zipping around the world, advising countries from Bolivia to Mongolia on how to overhaul their economies. Now the renowned Harvard economist has a new global mission: to overhaul the world's health. As chairman of the World Health Organization's Commission on Macroeconomics and Health, he recently oversaw a report showing that a small investment in health care in poor countries—about $34 per person per year—would not only reduce disease but would be a boon for the global economy. He discussed this linkage with associate editor Josie Glausiusz.