Three new laboratories in Blantyre, Malawi, will compare heart disease data with the South Lanarkshire town.
The Scottish government is funding half the Â£2m project by Glasgow University and Malawi's College of Medicine.
It aims to improve Malawi healthcare and shed light on the causes of poor health in parts of west Scotland.
The five-year project follows an increase in the number of Malawians with conditions such as cardiovascular disease, hypertension and arthritis.
International development minister Alasdair Allan told MSPs at Holyrood that the partnership would benefit both countries.
He said: "Although what we do in Malawi is for Malawi's sake, in many cases our partnership working has created real benefits for Scottish people too."
Prof Iain McInnes, from the University of Glasgow, said the project represented the "true spirit of partnership".
He said: "This represents a remarkable fusion of expertise in Glasgow and Blantyre, Malawi, that will allow a transformation in the way that diseases are recognised, treated and studied in Malawi."
A healthcare project involving the small Scottish town, Blantyre, and its namesake in eastern Africa aims to explain the so-called "Glasgow effect".