A new study has found that no country in the African continent is expected to achieve the United Nations’ goal of eliminating child malnutrition by 2030, the Guardian reported. The research was published in two papers in the journal Nature, and covered 51 African nations. According to Simon Hay, the papers’ senior author and director of geospatial science at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, said the UN goal was always deemed an “aspirational” one. “All we are trying to say is that this aspiration is very, very far away,” he said. The research found that several countries had seen improvement in childhood stunting and wasting since 2000, but malnutrition metrics continued to be “persistently high” in 14 nations, along the length of the Sahel region in Africa. The study also found that improvements had come about because of major financial, political and social efforts. It noted that it was “no coincidence” that countries such as Chad and Somalia, and most of the Sahel region had seen no progress; all these are areas that have seen conflict and obtained less international aid for children’s health.