The association
Our history
A century of commitment to the nursing profession, since its founding by Marie Léonie Chaptal in 1924.
Marie Léonie Chaptal (1873-1937)
Founder of the association and a central figure in the structuring of the French nursing profession. Born into a well-off family, she devoted her life to health and social organisation, and then to the recognition of an occupation that had no legal standing at the time.
She defended a secular, humanist and professionally demanding conception of nursing, in an interwar France crossed by religious and political tensions — which earned her as much support as opposition.
Key facts
A century in dates
From the first Parisian health charities to the law defining nursing practice.
- 1873
Birth of Léonie Chaptal
Birth of Marie Léonie Chaptal, future founder of the association.
- 1899
Red Cross qualification
Léonie Chaptal obtains her nursing qualification from the Société de secours aux blessés militaires, a branch of the French Red Cross.
- 1901
First health charities
She sets up health charities in the Plaisance district of Paris, serving the poorest communities.
- 1902
Teaching certificate
She obtains the primary-teaching certificate, with a view to training nurses herself.
- 1903
Salpêtrière certificate
She passes the Salpêtrière aptitude certificate. The same year, her charity for adults with tuberculosis is recognised as serving the public interest.
- 1905
Nursing school and residence
She opens the Maison-école d'infirmières privées on rue Vercingétorix in Paris — one of the first structured nurse-training programmes in the country.
- 1907
International congress in Paris
She takes part in the International Council of Nurses congress held in Paris, and becomes known to the international nursing elite.
- 1913
Conseil supérieur de l'assistance publique
She is appointed to the Conseil supérieur de l'assistance publique, the national welfare council, from where she will influence the regulation of the profession.
- 1916
The Bourgeois Act
She contributes to the drafting of the Bourgeois Act on social hygiene dispensaries.
- 1919
The Honnorat Act
The Honnorat Act on the creation of sanatoriums, to which she contributes, is passed.
- 1921
The Chaptal report
On 27 and 28 January she presents a decisive report on the standardisation of nurse training to the Conseil supérieur de l'assistance publique. It is the founding text for the recognition of the profession.
- 1922
The professional competence certificate
The decree of 1 July establishes a professional nursing certificate and a two-year training programme. The profession finally has a formal title.
- 1923
L'Infirmière française
The journal L'Infirmière française is founded. Out of the debates it provokes comes the plan for a national association.
- 1924
Founding of ANIDEF
On 22 June, the Association nationale des infirmières diplômées de l'État français is officially created and published in the Journal officiel. It is the direct forerunner of ANFIIDE.
- 1925
Joining the International Council of Nurses
ANIDEF takes part in the ICN congress in Helsinki, where Léonie Chaptal represents France. The association has held its seat without interruption ever since.
- 1929
Presidency of the ICN
She becomes editor-in-chief of L'Infirmière française and is elected President of the International Council of Nurses for 1929-1933.
- 1930
A profession divided by debate
In September, Marie d'Airoles founds CICIAMS in opposition to the positions defended by Léonie Chaptal. The profession takes shape through confrontation.
- 1932
Recognised as a public-interest association
ANIDEF is recognised as a public-interest association — the first French nursing association to be so. That same year, 92 training centres are officially recognised in France.
- 1933
The Paris congress
From 10 to 15 July she organises the International Council of Nurses congress in Paris. CICIAMS holds its own in Lourdes from 18 to 21 July.
- 1937
Death of Léonie Chaptal
She leaves behind a profession with a formal title, regulated training, a recognised association and a place in international bodies.
- 1942
The State Diploma
The State Diploma in Nursing is created, the culmination of the professionalisation movement begun twenty years earlier.
- 1946
The law defines the profession
The law defines the practice of nursing. The legal framework within which the profession still operates today is established.