Not even the rains that have started (finally) this year seem to be enough to wash away the urine you see on the sidewalks of San José. Stained walls, that telltale smell, and sometimes the culprit unashamedly making eye contact after he finishes. San José has so far been unable to offer any response to this bane of pedestrians but a group in Germany has found a way to fight back.
Last year, mental health issues prompted workers to take 365,712 days off work, costing Costa Rica's Social Security System ₡5.6 billion ($10.3 million), the agency reported.
A recent study found that one fast food kid's meal in Costa Rica had six times more sodium than the same meal from the same restaurant chain in the U.K.
Costa Rica's Health Ministry recently ordered San José city officials to come up with a plan to control the urban pigeon population. The birds are becoming a health hazard.
In 2014, the Ombudsman’s Office received a total of 30,264 complaints, with more than half — 52 percent — filed by women. The figure also represents the largest number of annual complaints received in the last two decades.
According to Caja records, most cases of skin cancer in Costa Rica develop among residents of the highlands in the provinces of San José, Heredia and Alajuela, and it happens mainly because people do not take adequate precautions against the sun, believing that cloudy skies prevent its effects.
