Environmental Health: Delivering One Health Before One Health Was Fashionable

Positioning environmental health at the center of the One Health model corrects a longstanding misinterpretation of its role. Although One Health emphasizes human, animal, and environmental domains, environmental health is the integrative practice that operationalizes these connections and translates the paradigm into action. Recognizing this reframing underscores the urgent need to invest in the environmental health workforce to ensure One Health is not merely aspirational. Environmental health professionals are uniquely trained to manage risks at the human– animal–environment interface through regulation, surveillance, and prevention. Explicitly recognizing and strengthening this workforce is essential for delivering the practical promises of One Health.