FALSE: There is no scientific evidence that neem can cure COVID-19
A Facebook post claiming that neem leaves — popularly known as “mwarubaini” in Swahili — can cure COVID-19 is FALSE.
The post is accompanied by a video of a woman inhaling the steam from boiled neem leaves and says that inhaling the hot steam three or four times a day will cure mild cases of COVID-19 in three days.
However, there is no evidence that neem leaves, powder or vapours are effective against COVID-19.
The claim that steam steam therapy with neem leaves can prevent COVID-19 has also shown up in Ghana.
While neem is known to exhibit anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and anti-carcinogenic properties, the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has emphasised that there is no clinical evidence to suggest that steaming and inhaling with neem will prevent coronavirus.
There are limited studies that have been carried out on neem leaves to assess their potential to treat infections, particularly viral infections, but no comprehensive trials have been done to assess its effectiveness against SARS-CoV-2, the virus strain that causes COVID-19.
On March 26, health experts Dr. Mahendhiran Nair from Monash University Malaysia, Dr. Awang Bulgiba Awang Mahmud an epidemiologist from the University of Malaya and Dr. Shamala Devi Sekaran an immunology and virology expert based at Malaysia’s Mahsa University discussed the claim in a Facebook live event and dismissed the idea that neem leaves can cure COVID-19.
“There must be scientific evidence to show that it directly attacks the virus and that has to be done with a proper experiment. Most of the time, when you read about this, there is no evidence,” said Dr. Shamala.
Dr. Awang said that neem leaves have been found to be ineffective at treating other diseases.
“What has been said to be effective may be found in one or two cases and may have nothing with neem leaves. It may be that the disease was cured by itself or there are other foods or due to the patient’s strong body self-defense.”
The World Health Organization states that to date, there is no vaccine and no specific antiviral medicines against COVID-19.
As of April 27, the global count of confirmed cases had passed 2.9 million, with more than 270,000 fatalities.
PesaCheck has looked into the claim that neem leaves (mwarubaini) can cure COVID-19 and finds it to be FALSE.
This post is part of an ongoing series of PesaCheck fact-checks examining content marked as potential misinformation on Facebook and other social media platforms.
By partnering with Facebook and similar social media platforms, third-party fact-checking organisations like PesaCheck are helping to sort fact from fiction. We do this by giving the public deeper insight and context to posts they see in their social media feeds.
Have you spotted what you think is fake news or false information on Facebook? Here’s how you can report. And, here’s more information on PesaCheck’s methodology for fact-checking questionable content.
This fact-check was written by PesaCheck Fact-Checker James Okong’o and edited by PesaCheck Deputy Editor Enock Nyariki.
The article was approved for publication by PesaCheck Managing Editor Eric Mugendi.
PesaCheck is East Africa’s first public finance fact-checking initiative. It was co-founded by Catherine Gicheru and Justin Arenstein, and is being incubated by the continent’s largest civic technology and data journalism accelerator: Code for Africa. It seeks to help the public separate fact from fiction in public pronouncements about the numbers that shape our world, with a special emphasis on pronouncements about public finances that shape government’s delivery of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) public services, such as healthcare, rural development and access to water / sanitation. PesaCheck also tests the accuracy of media reportage. To find out more about the project, visit pesacheck.org.
PesaCheck is an initiative of Code for Africa, through its innovateAFRICA fund, with support from Deutsche Welle Akademie, in partnership with a coalition of local African media and other civic watchdog organisations.