Biomedicine is what we usually think when we talk about Western medicine. Using the language of "sciences, knowledges, and medicines" helps us to recognize the ways bias comes into play when we speak about medicine and healing by acknowledging the plurality of streams and cultures of knowledge that have been present globally and throughout history, rather than placing Western medicine as the dominant or only approach to healing. 

Western medicine has frequently been used to "legitimize the ends" of colonialism according to Karen Flint, setting up a hierarchy between "healthy" European bodies and African bodies that are viewed as carrying diseases. It has been used to justify segregation, to force people into camps, to force vaccination, and ultimately to improve the productivity of forced labor by Africans for the sake of European profit. Finally, while African healing cultures and biomedicine engaged each other freely in the early days of missionaries and others arriving, sharing knowledge, as biomedicine became more established and institutionalized and as more formal colonial efforts took root, a dichotomy was set up between Western medicine and traditional healing so that the colonial hierarchies and racism could be further reinforced. This led to accusations of African healing cultures being simply the product of "superstition," for example.

Health sovereignty means allowing those who are living in a place and know what the main health issues really are to set the agenda in terms of research and resources. It is important so that the time and money invested can address what the real issues are, not just what those in the Global North assume. It's also important for acknowledging and incorporating the knowledges and healing cultures that are already present in a place.