Rich countries should back their poorer neighbours in setting up free universal healthcare to help save thousands of lives, Hilary Benn, the minister for international development, will tell public service workers today. 

Mr Benn will use his speech at a conference organised by public service union Unison to announce £14.5m worth of aid for Zambia's healthcare services, as he calls on the west to help developing countries set up a basic welfare state. 

Unison were one of the signatories to a Guardian letter back in September condemning the privatisation of basic services such as water and healthcare and calling for "effective delivery of essential public services" to achieve the 2015 millennium goals. 

The government's aid offer follows Zambia's decision to abolish fees for basic health services in rural areas, affecting 5 million of the 7 million Zambians living below the poverty line. 

Evidence shows that people living in developing countries with access to free and effective health services are living longer, healthier lives, Mr Benn will tell the audience. 

Figures show that 230,000 children could be saved in Africa if health fees were abolished, he will add in the latest of a series of speeches on international development policy. 

"It can't be right to take money from a poor person when they are sick. Guaranteeing universal access to free basic health services will save lives and help reduce the burden of disease and illness that blights so many lives. It's the right thing to do. This also means planning how to get Aids treatment to all who need it, to train the doctors and nurses, and build the health centres," he will say. 

Mr Benn will also call for rich countries to back 10-year plans for education and help developing countries build social security systems that support people "from the cradle to the grave". 

Donor countries should have a hand in drawing up the plans and funding their implementation, he will say. 

"What we need now, in all countries where primary age children are not yet in school, are 10 year plans to get them into school. Plans for the classrooms, for the teachers, the books and the abolition of fees. "As donors we should provide help to draw up the plans and then help fund their implementation. The UK stands ready to do both, and this is the best way the international community can show that the commitments of 2005 will make a real difference." The provision of pensions is not just of benefit to the elderly, but also their children living with them, who are healthier, he will say. In South Africa, pensions have increased the income of the poorest 5% of the population by 50%, while in Brazil they have doubled the incomes of this group. 

"In southern Africa, the ravages of HIV and Aids mean that older people are having to care for their grandchildren as their children die. Two out of three orphans who have lost both parents are cared for by an older person. "Social security - through food or cash - can stop a farmer from having to sell precious assets - her livestock, seeds for planting and tools - when she suffers a crisis, such as a drought or someone in her family becoming ill." 

The Zambian aid package was warmly welcomed by children's charity Save the Children as a "significant step". Peter Harlock, Save the Children's chief operating officer, said the government had "thrown down the gauntlet to other countries and the World Bank to provide long term support to the world's poorest countries. 

"It this were rolled out across 20 African countries the lives of nearly a quarter of a million children under the age of five could be saved each year."