Liverpool's School of Tropical Medicine is to set up a support centre for elephantiasis, or lymphatic filariasis, thanks to a Pounds 1.3 million grant from the department for international development.
More than 1 billion people are thought to be at risk from the mosquito-borne infection that causes limbs, breasts and genitals to swell up to several times their normal size.
The UK centre will form part of an international network and will provide technical support and resources to the World Bank and World Health Organisation, as well as to non-governmental bodies overseas.
David Molyneux is to step down as the school's director to lead the elimination programme.