A framework for the study of zoonotic disease emergence and its drivers: spillover of bat pathogens as a case study

Wood, James L. N.; Leach, Melissa; Waldman, Linda; MacGregor, Hayley; Fooks, Anthony R.; Jones, Kate E.; Restif, Olivier; Dechmann, Dina; Hayman, David T. S.; Baker, Kate S.; Peel, Alison J.; Kamins, Alexandra O.; Fahr, Jakob; Ntiamoa-Baidu, Yaa; Suu-Ire, Richard; Breiman, Robert F.; Epstein, Jonathan H.; Field, Hume E.; Cunningham, Andrew A.

This work could be valuably informed by social science and science-policy perspectives on framing and by the construction of (policy) knowledge through social and political processes and cultural logics [41, 109, 110] . It has been shown that framings often take the form of 'narratives' or underlying storylines which drive and justify different kinds of intervention and response [111] , including in relation to disease and epidemics [111, 112] . Different framings are associated with different actors, institutions and policy communities, linked in different ways across scales [113] . Depending on the actors and the power relations between them, policy and intervention practices will differ, and therby shaping spillover dynamics and public health impacts. The framings of interest here refer to bats, including their value and the threats they pose, human-bat interactions, public health impacts (incorporating both historical outbreaks and future threats) and the very notion of 'spillover' and how it occurs. Ideally, such framings should be investigated for a range of actors, including local people (differentiated by gender, age and occupation, such as bat hunters, ritual specialists and livestock keepers); front-line government and nongovernmental organization (NGO) professionals and practitioners (in the public health, veterinary and wildlife sectors); national policymakers and media; and international agencies concerned with bats, environment and health (including the United Nation's World Health Organization (WHO) and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the World Wide Fund for Nature and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Bat Specialist Group). Data from these studies need to be analysed systematically through qualitative techniques to identify key framing and narrative elements and clusters, to elucidate their relation to actors' cultural backgrounds and political-institutional positions, and to draw out key lines of contestation and their implications. This thematic work could be particularly influential for policy-related work that might follow, aimed at informing and inspiring shifts in existing framings and in new policy approaches.