**8. Conclusion**

As stated by Margaret Chan, Director-General of WHO, "Universal Health Coverage is the single most powerful concept that public health has to offer" [28]. Environmental health must be included within the implementation of a universal health care system due to the high burden of environmentally mediated diseases (~83%) [3]. This further justifies the importance of integrating the two. Despite the multitude of challenges as seen in the Bangladesh case study, there are a wide variety of options to utilize in integrating EH and UHC. By doing so, this ensures people have access to healthy (built) environments and government spending on health care costs associated with many NCDs such as chronic diseases, can be decreased. In LMIC where the burden of disease is highest, the UHC multisectoral approach would be the most beneficial.

Lessons learned from many UHC programs, specifically the Bangladesh case study, include the need for collaboration among sectors, increase in federal health care spending, inclusion of environmental health in UHC and focus on prevention methods. The proper services must also be integrated in order to successfully address health disparities in urban versus rural (or higher versus lower income) areas due to the possible difference in feasibility of service. Opportunities for improvement are plentiful in terms of strengthening the current pilot system through innovative delivery of services, appropriate approaches and implementing policy. As seen in the MDG and SDG, global efforts are being made to address EH and lessen the disease burden, but more can be done at the national policy level as well, especially making more stringent standards.

In conclusion, by implementing country-specific UHC approaches, focusing sufficient government spending on health care (including training health care professionals) and engaging public-private partnerships to successfully target environmental health at the community level, universal health care can be achieved. This would not only create healthier individuals to enter work force and contribute to the economy, while reducing absenteeism, but also reduce poverty by addressing the roots of the problem—the vicious cycle of inequitable health care due to chronic disease and SES.
