Critical reflections on the positioning of nurses in relation to One Health: Scope, barriers, and opportunities

Abstract This article analyzes the evolving role of the nursing profession within the One Health agenda and argues that nurses remain an under-recognized, yet essential component of One Health Systems. Although the concept of One Health has gained terminological clarity only recently, its multisectoral vision highlights the need to align workforce development across the human, animal, and environmental health sectors. Historical and contemporary evidence demonstrates that nursing has long embodied preventive, ecological, and community-focused principles consistent with One Health, as reflected in professional endorsements, emerging educational models, and expanding practice domains. Nurses contribute substantially to the operationalization of One Health practice, including infection prevention and control, antimicrobial stewardship, environmental health monitoring, disaster preparedness, and community-level interventions that bridge human–animal–environment interactions. Their involvement is increasingly visible in integrated clinical models, interprofessional training programs, Healthy Cities initiatives, and outreach activities that strengthen health literacy, food security, and community resilience. Despite this wide-ranging engagement, nursing contributions remain largely implicit or undervalued, constrained by governance structures that prioritize medical and veterinary professions, fragmented educational pathways, and persistent perceptions of nursing confined to bedside clinical care. By synthesizing evidence across education, policy, and practice, this article explicitly aims to stimulate policy debate and catalyze concrete action to address the systemic barriers limiting the full participation of nurses in One Health Systems. Advancing One Health implementation requires structural reforms that elevate the visibility of nursing, strengthen leadership capacity, and promote multisectoral collaboration. Recognizing nurses as strategic integrators of humans, animals, and plants into ecosystem health would enhance the resilience and sustainability of One Health Systems, enabling more effective responses to complex and interdependent global health threats. One Health impact statement Nursing is already practicing One Health in many settings, but these contributions remain largely invisible because they are neither explicitly conceptualized as One Health nor systematically reflected in education, governance, or interprofessional structures.