Steam inhalation as an effective COVID-19 remedy

Tanzania treated steam inhalation and related traditional preparations as successful COVID-era remedies, publicly attributing recovery and broad therapeutic success to them and building official access around approved preparations before adequate evidence had established a COVID-19 treatment or preventive effect.

1 episode

Current understanding

Steam inhalation can humidify the upper airway and may provide temporary symptomatic comfort, but that is different from preventing SARS-CoV-2 infection or treating the underlying viral disease. Robust evidence did not establish steam inhalation as an effective COVID-19 treatment or prevention method. Reviews during and after the pandemic described the evidence as insufficient or scientifically unsettled, while burns literature documented a real risk of serious scald injury. Traditional preparations likewise require product-specific evidence of safety and efficacy rather than inference from traditional use or anecdotal recovery.

Consequences and human impact

Tanzania's COVID-era endorsement went beyond private folk practice. In May 2020 the presidency publicized the president's account that his son recovered from COVID-19 while using lemon, ginger and steam inhalation. In August the Health Ministry said traditional remedies had helped the country substantially during the coronavirus outbreak and reported more than 100,018 users of traditional remedies, explicitly including nyungu steam inhalation, with substantial success. By February 2021 the ministry was pursuing wider availability of approved traditional preparations through health facilities and pharmacies, including volatile-oil products for steaming. Under the succeeding administration, a government expert committee called for traditional medicines to be used only when scientifically proven and the country shifted toward vaccination and internationally aligned COVID-19 control.

How the consequences followed

Steam may provide subjective symptom relief, and the traditional preparations promoted in Tanzania were not all chemically identical. The unsupported institutional step was from anecdotes, use and safety-oriented approval to claims or policy implying meaningful COVID-19 therapeutic benefit.

In 2021 national COVID-19 policy shifted toward expert scientific review, vaccination and the principle that traditional medicines should be used only when scientifically proven. This policy change did not amount to a formal legal ban on steam inhalation.

May 2020

The presidency publicized recovery from COVID-19 alongside lemon, ginger and steam inhalation

>100,018

The Health Ministry reported traditional-remedy users, including nyungu steam inhalation, and described substantial success

2021

A presidential expert committee called for traditional medicines to be used only when scientifically proven

Quantitative figures are highlighted only when the cited evidence supports them. The scale of a related catastrophe is not automatically treated as a death toll caused solely by this belief.

Institutional episode

Tanzania

2020–2021Policy basis

Tanzania gave steam inhalation and related traditional remedies unusual state legitimacy during the COVID-19 pandemic. President John Magufuli publicly linked his son's recovery to lemon, ginger and steaming; the Health Ministry later said traditional remedies had helped the country substantially during the outbreak and reported more than 100,018 users, including people using nyungu steam inhalation. In early 2021 the ministry was developing wider access to approved traditional preparations, including volatile-oil products for steaming. The succeeding administration changed course: a presidential expert committee urged scientific proof for traditional medicines and supported vaccination and internationally aligned controls. Scientific reviews did not establish steam inhalation as an effective COVID-19 treatment or preventive measure, while clinical reports documented serious scald hazards.

Institutions

Office of the President of Tanzania
Ministry of Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly and Children
Traditional and Alternative Health Practice Council

Documented consequences

Presidential amplification of steam inhalation as part of an apparent COVID-19 recovery
Health-ministry attribution of substantial pandemic success to traditional remedies including nyungu steam inhalation
Government approval and access planning for traditional oral and steaming preparations through health facilities and pharmacies
Public exposure to an inadequately established COVID-19 remedy with documented scald risks from steam inhalation

Institutional machinery

During the first pandemic year, presidential and Health Ministry communications gave steam inhalation and traditional remedies official therapeutic legitimacy. The presidency published President John Magufuli's account that his son had COVID-19 and recovered while taking lemon and ginger and using steam inhalation. In August 2020 the Health Ministry said traditional therapies had helped Tanzania substantially during the coronavirus outbreak and reported more than 100,018 people using traditional remedies, including nyungu steam inhalation, with substantial success. In February 2021 the ministry announced a strategy to improve access to approved traditional medicines through health facilities and pharmacies and identified both oral products and volatile-oil preparations for steaming. The policy environment changed after President Samia Suluhu Hassan appointed an expert committee that recommended traditional medicines be used only when scientifically proven and urged vaccination and internationally aligned COVID-19 measures.

Sources and what they establish

Taarifa kwa Vyombo vya Habari — 17 Mei 2020Office of the President of Tanzania
SIMAMIENI USAJILI WA DAWA ZA ASILI KWA KUTOA ELIMU YAKUTOSHA KWA WATENGENEZAJI — PROF. MCHEMBEMinistry of Health, Tanzania
DAWA ASILIA SASA KUWEKEWA MKAKATI YA KUPATIKANA KATIKA VITUO VYA KUTOLEA HUDUMA ZA AFYA NA MADUKA YA DAWA ZA BINADAMUMinistry of Health, Tanzania
Official 6 February 2021 ministry report describes a government strategy to make accepted traditional medicines more accessible through health facilities and pharmacies and identifies approved oral preparations and volatile-oil products intended for steam inhalation.
Samia Changes COVID-19 Handling ApproachEmbassy of the United Republic of Tanzania in Israel
Official government account of the 2021 policy shift. It reports President Samia Suluhu Hassan's insistence on professional research and the expert committee's recommendation that traditional medicines be used only when scientifically proven, alongside vaccination, data reporting and internationally aligned prevention measures.

Last reviewed: 24/08/2026