Who is the patient of One Health?

The One Health approach has emerged as one of the most influential approaches for addressing contemporary challenges at the human-animal-environment interface. Although its conceptual foundation is based on the premise that human, animal, and environmental health are equally interconnected, concerns have recently been raised regarding persistent anthropocentric tendencies within its scientific and institutional implementation. This discussion article examines whether the three pillars of One Health are receiving equivalent attention within contemporary scientific production and governance structures. To explore this question, we combined a brief exploratory assessment of 490 articles indexed in the Web of Science containing the term "One Health" in their titles and published in 2026. Articles were evaluated according to research areas, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and departmental affiliations and an article-level assessment of their substantive human, animal, and environmental health beneficiaries. We argue that the principal challenge facing One Health may no longer be conceptual, but institutional. Advancing the framework will require moving from conceptual integration toward governance systems capable of supporting balanced participation of human, animal, and environmental sectors. Without such transformation, One Health risks remaining conceptually integrated while structurally asymmetrical.