Objectives

This study aims to investigate the readiness and resilience of the health system against COVID-19 and the impact of the pandemic on the economy and foreign trade in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region with Türkiye.

Methods

By descriptive analysis, the readiness and resilience of the health system and the impact of the pandemic on the economy and foreign trade in the MENA region with Türkiye were evaluated. The normality of the indicators was checked by Jarque-Bera (JB), Shapiro-Wilk (SW) and Kolmogorov-Smirnov (KS) tests. The countries were ranked by the min-max standardization method.

Results

As of the end of July 2021, the number of COVID-19-related cases was more than 12.4 million in MENA and 5.7 million in Türkiye and deaths were more than 212 thousand in MENA and 51 thousand in Türkiye.

After the analysis in order, it is found that Israel, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Türkiye and Qatar as the most resilient countries and Yemen, Syria, Palestine, Iraq and Libya as the most vulnerable countries against the pandemic.

Conclusion

The pandemic has affected the life and the economies in the region negatively and the health system for some of them was not sufficient to fight it.