BATON ROUGE - An initiative geared towards helping Baton Rouge residents become healthier will get a boost in funding today. 

Healthy BR, an effort now led by East Baton Rouge Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome, is receiving a grant from Aetna Better Health of Louisiana.

The grant comes on the heels of the 2018 Community Health Needs Assessment, which Broome unveiled earlier this week. East Baton Rouge Parish is home to the nation's only joint health assessment and health implementation plan formed by the five major hospitals in the area. The areas of focus for the assessment are: healthy living, access to care, behavioral health, and HIV study.

State and local leaders including Broome pledged to bring healthy lifestyle options to areas of the parish that don't have enough access. At a press conference earlier this week, she added that opportunities for residents to improve their health are not equal across the parish.