A deadly meningitis outbreak in the United States blamed on a tainted drug has triggered outrage and calls for tighter regulation of the loosely controlled pharmaceutical compounding industry.

At least a dozen people have died and the number of fungal meningitis cases rose to 138 Wednesday after a contaminated drug was shipped to clinics and hospitals in 23 states.

Canada announced Wednesday it was disbursing Can$19.4 million in aid for 14 poorer countries to treat mental health disorders.

"Mental health disorders are maybe the most neglected of neglected diseases," said Peter Singer, head of government-funded Grand Challenges Canada.

Women who start hormone replacement therapy (HRT) soon after menopause do not show higher cancer incidence within 16 years, according to a Danish study published on Tuesday that fuels scientific discord over the treatment's safety.

Indeed, women who took HRT in the investigation had a significantly lower risk of dying or developing heart problems, the researchers wrote in a paper published on the medical website bmj.com.

The U.N.'s food agency admitted Tuesday it was "losing the battle" against hunger in sub-Saharan Africa, where there are 64 million more chronically undernourished people than there were 20 years ago.

"The situation in Sub-Saharan Africa is a great cause for concern," said Jomo Sundaram, FAO assistant director-general, as the Rome-based agency warned that more needs to be done to tackle hunger in the poverty-struck region.

More than 350 million people suffer from depression globally, the World Health Organization said, ahead of World Mental Health Day on Wednesday.

"It is not a disease of developed countries, it is a global phenomenon. It's present in both genders and in rich and poor populations," Dr Shekhar Saxena, head of the WHO's mental health and substance abuse department, told reporters in Geneva.

The U.N.'s food agency revised down the number of the world's hungry on Tuesday to just under 870 million but slammed the figure as "unacceptable" and warned that the fight against hunger was slowing down.

"With almost 870 million people chronically undernourished in 2010-2012, the number of hungry people in the world remains unacceptably high," the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) said in its 2012 report on food insecurity.

Eating tomatoes can dramatically reduce the risk of having a stroke, according to a new study out Monday that provided more support for diets rich in fruits and vegetables.

The key factor appears to be the powerful antioxidant lycopene, according to the Finnish study published in the Neurology journal.

The best-selling wrinkle erasing drug Botox will be used in an Australian study to treat hay fever, researchers said Tuesday after it showed promise in providing relief in early trials.

Philip Bardin, a professor at the Monash Medical Center which is linked to Melbourne's Monash University, said Botox was already widely used in medicine to reduce spasms in muscles following strokes and in treating cerebral palsy.

Use of cannabis extract helps ease painful muscle stiffness among patients with multiple sclerosis (MS), according to a large trial published on Tuesday in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry.

The "Phase III" test -- the final stage in a process to vet a new drug or medical process -- took place among 22 centers in Britain.

Almost half of U.S. children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder wander away from safe places, and about half go missing long enough to alarm their parents, a new study out Monday found.

The study published in the journal Pediatrics on research by the Kennedy Krieger Institute that looked at more than 1,200 families highlighted how significant a concern the issue is, the authors wrote.