With the spread of COVID-19 to the Middle-East and North African (MENA) region, many health experts share concerns about the capacity of these countries’ health systems to halt such a pandemic. While a variety of factors may affect the spread of any infectious disease, health systems remain ultimately responsible for early detection, prevention and treatment. We assess and compare the readiness and capacity of the health systems in a set of MENA countries to respond to the current pandemic, using two mashup indices previously proposed to measure countries’ detection capacity, risk of, and vulnerability to infectious diseases.