Herbal steam inhalation as a COVID-19 treatment or preventive
01
What institutions accepted
Tanzania's presidency and, later, senior government ministries promoted herbal steam inhalation—kujifukiza or nyungu—as a scientifically effective way to reduce, treat or help prevent COVID-19. Presidential anecdotes, government campaign weeks and ministry claims about traditional-medicine use gave the practice official therapeutic legitimacy before controlled evidence had established an effect on SARS-CoV-2 infection or clinical outcomes.
02
What the evidence supports now
Heating SARS-CoV-2 in a laboratory sample is not evidence that inhaled steam can safely heat virus inside infected human cells. Steam may feel soothing or moisten a dry upper airway, but a Cochrane review of common-cold trials found inconsistent symptom effects and no reduction in viral shedding. The COVID-19 literature consisted largely of small, uncontrolled or heterogeneous studies; a later systematic review found too little evidence to conclude that steam prevents or treats COVID-19. Steam hot enough to approach the president's claimed temperature would injure tissue, and bowls of hot water cause serious scalds. Herbal additives and commercial preparations require their own evidence of composition, dose, safety and efficacy; a safety or registration check is not proof of COVID-19 benefit.
03
Evidence for the overall belief
Open sources, locators and notes
- DocumentsHistorical beliefPresident Magufuli’s speech on steam inhalation, steam therapyAfrica Check
Where in the source: full one-page transcript and English translation
Records Magufuli's 22 April 2020 statement that steam above 100°C would break apart coronavirus because it was fatty, his description of steaming as a scientific treatment and his request that the Health Ministry emphasize and explain it to Tanzanians.
- DocumentsHistorical beliefTaarifa kwa Vyombo vya Habari — 17 Mei 2020Office of the President of Tanzania
Where in the source: 17 May 2020 release, paragraph beginning “Hata mimi mtoto wangu”
The official State House release quotes Magufuli saying his son had COVID-19 and recovered while using lemon, ginger and steam inhalation. It documents presidential endorsement, not which part of a combined regimen caused recovery.
- DocumentsHistorical beliefSIMAMIENI USAJILI WA DAWA ZA ASILI KWA KUTOA ELIMU YAKUTOSHA KWA WATENGENEZAJI — PROF. MCHEMBEMinistry of Health, Tanzania
Where in the source: 31 August 2020 item, paragraphs quoting Dr Grace Magembe
The ministry's Director of Medical Services said traditional remedies had substantially carried Tanzania through the coronavirus outbreak and described major success among users including people who practised nyungu.
- DocumentsHistorical beliefTanzania does not have plans to procure Covid-19 vaccineThe Citizen
Where in the source: paragraphs reporting Health Minister Dorothy Gwajima's 1 February 2021 press conference
Reports the Health Minister listing herbal steaming and traditional medicines among ways citizens should protect themselves from coronavirus while saying the ministry had no current plan to procure COVID-19 vaccine.
- ContextualizesPresent correctionTheoretical effectiveness of steam inhalation against SARS-CoV-2 infection: updates on clinical trials, mechanism of actions, and traditional approachesHeliyon / PubMed
Where in the source: abstract; sections 3.4, 4, 6 and 8
This favorably framed narrative review still says no study had established the in-vivo temperature, humidity and exposure needed to deactivate SARS-CoV-2 and calls the intervention theoretical pending large randomized trials. Its clinical section relies on small uncontrolled studies, while its safety section records scald and airway risks.
- SupportsPresent correctionData on steam inhalation in combating CoVid-19Bioinformation / PubMed
Where in the source: abstract and conclusion; PMID 37426512
The review found only three eligible studies and concluded that there was too little evidence to determine a role in COVID-19 treatment and insufficient evidence for prevention, despite reports of symptom relief.
- ContextualizesPresent correctionHeated, humidified air for the common coldCochrane Database of Systematic Reviews / PubMed
Where in the source: abstract, main results and authors' conclusions; PMID 28849871
Six trials involving 387 participants with common colds produced inconsistent low-quality symptom findings and no significant reduction in viral shedding. Even evidence for a different, milder viral illness did not validate an antiviral effect, and the review did not study COVID-19.
- SupportsPresent correctionSteam inhalation and paediatric burns during the COVID-19 pandemicThe Lancet / PubMed
Where in the source: full correspondence, Lancet 395 (2020), p. 1690; PMID 32422125
The Birmingham Children's Hospital burns centre reported a 30-fold increase in scalds directly caused by steam inhalation after lockdown began. This is a one-centre hazard signal, not an estimate of Tanzanian injuries.
- SupportsImpactSIMAMIENI USAJILI WA DAWA ZA ASILI KWA KUTOA ELIMU YAKUTOSHA KWA WATENGENEZAJI — PROF. MCHEMBEMinistry of Health, Tanzania
Where in the source: 31 August 2020 item, final paragraphs before the acting registrar's statement
The ministry article gives the awkward approximate figure “more than 100,018” for traditional-remedy users and includes nyungu among the methods. It supplies no case definition, denominator, comparison group or measured endpoint, so it documents reach and an official success claim rather than effectiveness.
- DocumentsImpactJafo asema awamu ya 3 ya Nyungu na kujifukiza inaanza Februari 01.ITV Tanzania
Where in the source: entire 30 January 2021 report and embedded statement by TAMISEMI minister Selemani Jafo
Documents the minister's announcement that a third “season” of nyungu, fruit consumption and prayer would run from 1 to 7 February, with Tanzanians expected to keep working rather than isolate.
- DocumentsImpactDAWA ASILIA SASA KUWEKEWA MKAKATI YA KUPATIKANA KATIKA VITUO VYA KUTOLEA HUDUMA ZA AFYA NA MADUKA YA DAWA ZA BINADAMUMinistry of Health, Tanzania
Where in the source: paragraphs 1–14 of the 6 February 2021 item
Describes plans to make accepted traditional medicines available through health facilities and pharmacies. The cited checks concerned safety and human-use criteria; the article reports no controlled proof of COVID-19 efficacy.
- DocumentsImpactThe first COVID-19 vaccines have arrived in TanzaniaUNICEF United Republic of Tanzania
Where in the source: opening text and captions for the 24 July 2021 shipment
Records arrival of 1,058,450 Janssen doses through COVAX and the planned priority groups, supplying concrete evidence that the succeeding government's vaccine policy moved beyond committee recommendations.
04
Impact
On 22 April 2020 President John Magufuli called steam inhalation a “scientific treatment,” said heat above 100°C would disintegrate the virus's fatty covering, and asked the Health Ministry to emphasize the practice. A 17 May State House release then publicized his account that his son recovered while eating lemon and ginger and steaming. On 31 August the Health Ministry claimed major success for traditional remedies during the outbreak and reported approximately “more than 100,018” users, including nyungu users; it supplied no diagnosis, comparison group or outcome data, so the figure is not a treatment trial or a count of proven COVID-19 recoveries. In early 2021 the Health Minister presented steaming among preventive measures while saying the ministry had no current vaccine plan, a regional-government minister announced a third national week of nyungu, and health officials planned wider access to safety-screened traditional products. After the presidency changed, an expert committee recommended scientific proof for traditional medicines and vaccination; Tanzania began its COVID-19 vaccine rollout on 28 July 2021.
Context
Kujifukiza or nyungu covered related but non-identical practices: people inhaled vapour from hot water, often under a cloth, and sometimes added herbs or volatile oils. The physical claim that heat would destroy virus, the possible short-lived sensation of humidification and pharmacological claims about particular plant ingredients are separate questions and should not be treated as one intervention.
Government Chemist and traditional-medicine registration checks described in February 2021 addressed safety and suitability for human use. The ministry article did not report randomized efficacy trials, did not establish that every named product treated COVID-19, and inconsistently said four volatile-oil products were approved while naming only BUPIJI and UZIMA. Registration and access planning therefore cannot be read as clinical proof.
Tanzania's medical establishment was not unanimous. Before Magufuli's April speech, Deputy Health Minister Faustine Ndugulile publicly said steaming did not treat COVID-19 or kill the virus. The later presidential, ministerial and campaign messages nevertheless became the dominant official public line.
The May recovery story cannot establish causation. Lemon, ginger and steam were used together, no untreated comparison existed, and many COVID-19 infections resolve without a specific treatment.
Available sources document endorsement, campaigns, an uptake claim and product-access planning. They do not measure how many Tanzanian infections, hospitalizations, deaths, delayed consultations or scald injuries resulted from the policy. Burn evidence establishes a known hazard of the practice, not a Tanzania-specific injury count.
The 2021 change was broader than steam inhalation. The expert committee advised evidence-based use of traditional medicine, data reporting, internationally aligned prevention and vaccination. No steam-specific ban or full retraction of the earlier claims was located.
Magufuli called steam inhalation a scientific treatment and asked the Health Ministry to promote it
Ministry estimate for traditional-remedy users, including nyungu—not verified COVID-19 cases or recoveries
Dates announced for a third national week of nyungu, fruit consumption and prayer
Historical totals and effects are presented as contextual evidence, not as universal causal claims.
Institutional episode 01
Tanzania
East Africa
A presidential assertion moved through State House communication, ministry messaging, regional-government mobilization and product-access planning. The result was more than a private home remedy: steam inhalation received a mechanistic explanation from the head of state, repeated claims of success, national campaign dates and support from senior health officials. The evidence offered for benefit remained anecdotes, reported use and administrative safety checks. None supplied a controlled estimate of prevention, viral clearance, hospitalization or mortality, and the available sources cannot quantify the policy's health effects within Tanzania.
Institutions involved
- Office of the President of Tanzania
- Ministry of Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly and Children
- President's Office – Regional Administration and Local Government (TAMISEMI)
- Traditional and Alternative Health Practice Council
Institutional context
Magufuli supplied both an explicit causal mechanism and an instruction to the Health Ministry: in a nationally broadcast address he said steam above 100°C would break apart coronavirus because of its lipid covering, called the practice scientific treatment and asked officials to explain and promote it. State House then circulated his son's recovery anecdote. Health Ministry officials later attributed broad success to traditional remedies including nyungu, and the minister included steaming among COVID-19 precautions in February 2021. TAMISEMI minister Selemani Jafo announced a third one-week national nyungu campaign. A separate ministry access plan relied on safety screening and registration of oral and volatile-oil preparations, not demonstrated COVID-19 efficacy. These messages were institutionally contested: the deputy health minister had warned that steaming was not a treatment, while later officials promoted it alongside hygiene, nutrition and other advice.
Why this persisted
EndorsementThe president framed steaming as settled science and instructed the Health Ministry to emphasize it. State House added a recovery story; ministries repeated preventive and therapeutic claims, organized a campaign week and planned retail and facility access for registered traditional preparations. This chain converted a familiar practice into official advice while blurring anecdote, popularity, safety screening and clinical efficacy.
How correction happened
Partially corrected6 April–28 July 2021
Action: President Samia Suluhu Hassan commissioned an expert review, accepted an evidence requirement for traditional medicines and moved Tanzania into vaccination and internationally aligned COVID-19 control.
The expert committee formed on 6 April reported on 17 May and recommended that traditional medicines be used only when scientifically proven, that Tanzania share accurate data and that it join vaccination efforts. An official 29 June account cautioned that committee recommendations had not yet all become policy. Tanzania received its first COVAX-facilitated vaccines on 24 July and launched vaccination on 28 July. This was a material reversal of the earlier policy environment, but no formal steam-specific ban or comprehensive retraction is documented.
Consequences
- Repeated presidential presentation of steam as a treatment with a simple but invalid heat-and-lipid mechanism
- State House amplification of an uncontrolled family recovery anecdote as evidence for lemon, ginger and steaming
- Health Ministry claims of major success based on an undifferentiated uptake figure rather than clinical outcomes
- A third government campaign week directing the public to use nyungu while continuing ordinary work
- Administrative support for distributing safety-screened traditional oral and steaming products through health facilities and pharmacies
- Promotion to the general public of a practice with a documented risk of severe scalding from hot-water containers
- A policy environment in which steaming was promoted while the ministry had no current vaccine-procurement plan; rollout began under the succeeding administration
Evidence for this episode
18 evidence linksOpen sources, locators and notes
- DocumentsInstitutional carrierTaarifa kwa Vyombo vya Habari — 17 Mei 2020Office of the President of Tanzania
Where in the source: heading, signature block and paragraph beginning “Hata mimi mtoto wangu”
Identifies the Office of Presidential Communications as publisher of Magufuli's recovery anecdote and therefore as an institutional carrier rather than merely a venue reporting an unofficial remark.
- DocumentsInstitutional carrierPresident Magufuli’s speech on steam inhalation, steam therapyAfrica Check
Where in the source: full one-page transcript and English translation
The nationally delivered presidential statement expressly tasked the Health Ministry with emphasizing and explaining steam inhalation, linking the head of state to subsequent administrative messaging.
- DocumentsInstitutional carrierSIMAMIENI USAJILI WA DAWA ZA ASILI KWA KUTOA ELIMU YAKUTOSHA KWA WATENGENEZAJI — PROF. MCHEMBEMinistry of Health, Tanzania
Where in the source: heading and statements attributed to ministry officials on 31 August 2020
Names the ministry's permanent secretary, Director of Medical Services and Traditional and Alternative Health Practice Council as officials promoting registration, research and use of traditional remedies.
- DocumentsInstitutional carrierJafo asema awamu ya 3 ya Nyungu na kujifukiza inaanza Februari 01.ITV Tanzania
Where in the source: opening paragraph and quoted statement
Identifies TAMISEMI minister Selemani Jafo as the official announcing the February 2021 national campaign week in the president's presence.
- DocumentsInstitutional carrierTanzania does not have plans to procure Covid-19 vaccineThe Citizen
Where in the source: 1 February 2021 press-conference report
Attributes the advice to Health Minister Dorothy Gwajima and records that it was delivered as ministry guidance in response to questions about COVID-19 vaccination and prevention.
- ContextualizesContextContested Truths Over COVID-19 in East Africa: Examining Opposition to Public Health Measures in Tanzania and UgandaAfrican Studies Review / Cambridge University Press
Where in the source: section “Steam Inhalation as Alternative Therapeutic for COVID-19”
The peer-reviewed analysis documents internal disagreement: Deputy Health Minister Faustine Ndugulile warned that steaming did not treat COVID-19 before the president promoted it. It also describes the customary herb-infused form and the polarized public debate that followed state endorsement.
- ContextualizesContextTheoretical effectiveness of steam inhalation against SARS-CoV-2 infection: updates on clinical trials, mechanism of actions, and traditional approachesHeliyon / PubMed
Where in the source: abstract; sections 3.4, 4, 6 and 8
Places the official claims against the intervention's clinical record. Even this favorably framed narrative review found no established in-vivo temperature, humidity or exposure parameters and called for large randomized trials; it therefore does not support treating the government's therapeutic claims as established science.
- ContextualizesContextData on steam inhalation in combating CoVid-19Bioinformation / PubMed
Where in the source: abstract and conclusion; PMID 37426512
The later systematic review found only three eligible steam-inhalation studies and insufficient evidence for prevention, with too little evidence to determine a treatment role. It supplies no clinical basis for the earlier nationwide promotion.
- ContextualizesContextHeated, humidified air for the common coldCochrane Database of Systematic Reviews / PubMed
Where in the source: abstract, main results and authors' conclusions; PMID 28849871
This pre-pandemic review of heated, humidified air for the common cold found inconsistent low-quality symptom effects and no significant reduction in viral shedding. It shows why possible comfort from humidification could not validate the claimed antiviral mechanism against SARS-CoV-2.
- DocumentsMechanismPresident Magufuli’s speech on steam inhalation, steam therapyAfrica Check
Where in the source: full one-page transcript and English translation
Captures the simple explanatory device used to authorize the treatment: boiling-water temperature plus the viral lipid envelope supposedly meant the virus would melt or disintegrate in the nose and mouth.
- DocumentsMechanismDAWA ASILIA SASA KUWEKEWA MKAKATI YA KUPATIKANA KATIKA VITUO VYA KUTOLEA HUDUMA ZA AFYA NA MADUKA YA DAWA ZA BINADAMUMinistry of Health, Tanzania
Where in the source: paragraphs on safety review, distribution strategy and listed oral and volatile-oil products
Shows how government safety testing and registration were converted into a plan for wider availability through agents, pharmacies and health facilities. It says five oral and four volatile-oil products were approved but names only two oils, underscoring that the announcement was not a clinical efficacy report.
- DocumentsMechanismJafo asema awamu ya 3 ya Nyungu na kujifukiza inaanza Februari 01.ITV Tanzania
Where in the source: minister's quoted announcement of “Season Three”
Demonstrates mass-mobilization mechanics: a senior regional-government minister set common dates for a countrywide week and bundled steaming with fruit, prayer and continued work.
- SupportsConsequencesSIMAMIENI USAJILI WA DAWA ZA ASILI KWA KUTOA ELIMU YAKUTOSHA KWA WATENGENEZAJI — PROF. MCHEMBEMinistry of Health, Tanzania
Where in the source: 31 August 2020 item, paragraphs quoting Dr Grace Magembe
Documents claimed large-scale uptake and official attribution of success. Because the ministry provides no outcome design or disaggregated COVID-19 data, the figure cannot show recovery, prevention or population benefit.
- ContextualizesConsequencesSteam inhalation and paediatric burns during the COVID-19 pandemicThe Lancet / PubMed
Where in the source: full correspondence, Lancet 395 (2020), p. 1690; PMID 32422125
Establishes that promotion of bowl-based steaming carries a concrete paediatric scald hazard. The evidence supports exposure to risk in Tanzania, but it does not document a Tanzanian injury total.
- ContextualizesConsequencesContested Truths Over COVID-19 in East Africa: Examining Opposition to Public Health Measures in Tanzania and UgandaAfrican Studies Review / Cambridge University Press
Where in the source: section “Steam Inhalation as Alternative Therapeutic for COVID-19” and Figure 1 discussion
Describes the sharp rise in Swahili social-media discussion after the 22 April address and the conflict between professional warning and presidential authority. This supports public amplification, not a quantified health effect.
- DocumentsInstitutional correctionSamia Changes COVID-19 Handling ApproachEmbassy of the United Republic of Tanzania in Israel
Where in the source: paragraphs 2–20, especially the 6 April appointment and 17 May recommendations
The official account records the expert committee's call for science-proven traditional medicines, accurate data, international prevention standards and vaccination. It also says on 29 June that not all recommendations had yet produced new policy, supporting a partial rather than immediate or steam-specific correction.
- DocumentsInstitutional correctionThe first COVID-19 vaccines have arrived in TanzaniaUNICEF United Republic of Tanzania
Where in the source: 24 July 2021 photo essay, opening four sections
Documents receipt of the first vaccine shipment and the planned national campaign. It is the material prerequisite for implementation of the broader policy reversal, without showing a specific withdrawal of steam advice.
- DocumentsInstitutional correctionWHO urges renewed commitment to interrupt COVID-19 in TanzaniaWHO Regional Office for Africa
Where in the source: paragraph beginning “On 28 July 2021”
WHO records that Tanzania launched its COVID-19 vaccination programme on 28 July 2021, supplying the implementation date that marks the end of this episode's policy-reversal period.
Source registryEach source is registered once and can carry several precise evidence relationships.14 sources
- 01Taarifa kwa Vyombo vya Habari — 17 Mei 2020Office of the President of Tanzania2 evidence links
- 024 evidence links
- 032 evidence links
- 04Samia Changes COVID-19 Handling ApproachEmbassy of the United Republic of Tanzania in Israel1 evidence link
- 052 evidence links
- 062 evidence links
- 073 evidence links
- 083 evidence links
- 092 evidence links
- 10Contested Truths Over COVID-19 in East Africa: Examining Opposition to Public Health Measures in Tanzania and UgandaAfrican Studies Review / Cambridge University Press2 evidence links
- 11Heated, humidified air for the common coldCochrane Database of Systematic Reviews / PubMed2 evidence links
- 122 evidence links
- 13The first COVID-19 vaccines have arrived in TanzaniaUNICEF United Republic of Tanzania2 evidence links
- 14WHO urges renewed commitment to interrupt COVID-19 in TanzaniaWHO Regional Office for Africa1 evidence link