The COVID-19 pandemic has amplified the central role nurses play across settings and systems in optimising health outcomes on a global scale. They are key players in providing high-quality clinical care of individuals, families and communities and make expert contributions across policy, education and research domains. Nurses are at the frontlines of health and social care services, merging their evidence-based, scientific and personcentred skills to meet the health and wellbeing needs of populations worldwide during times of both normalcy and crisis. In this report, we contend there must be increased and rapid investment in nurses and nursing to strategically address the social determinants of health and move towards health equity in both systems and communities.