SANAA, Yemen — Yemen's children are paying the price of the civil war that began there in September 2014. They are dying daily from preventable conditions like diarrhea. In times of war, children lose their schools, houses and healthy food, and suffer from diseases caused by malnutrition and for which they are unvaccinated.

On Dec. 3, UNICEF revealed the emergence of measles cases among Yemeni children. The disease, which had disappeared years ago in Yemen, had resurfaced. UNICEF's spokesman in Yemen Ahmad al-Asaadi told Al-Monitor, "Children have been diagnosed with measles in Saada, al-Mahra, Umran and Hadramout governorates.” He added, “There are 37 confirmed diagnoses of measles and 268 suspected cases, in addition to three deaths in Saada, al-Mahra and Hadramout as a result of the condition.”

Ashwaq al-Ashaari, the director of the vaccine department at Moeen Medical Center in Sanaa, told Al-Monitor that the measles vaccine is available. Asked whether the center had seen measles cases, she said, “In November 2015, we treated two infected children and they were referred to the Epidemiological Surveillance Center in Sanaa, which is affiliated with the Ministry of Health. This was not due to the lack of vaccines, but rather to the family’s negligence.”

But there are even worse dangers than measles. A Dec. 13 UNICEF statement noted that one Yemeni child dies every 10 minutes due to malnutrition and preventable diseases like diarrhea. It read, “Malnutrition among Yemeni children is at its highest level ever and unequaled in the world. Epidemics like cholera and measles are spreading. "The lack of operational health facilities has allowed disease to spread among children.”