The Republic of Senegal (hereinafter referred to as “Senegal”) became independent from its former colonial master, the Republic of France in 1960 and formed a democracy. Operations of nursing schools that had been established under the colonial rule were taken over by the Senegal government after the independence. Though having been influenced strongly by French nursing education system, they has developed uniquely and now grown to leading nursing schools of francophone West African countries.
The objective of this manuscript is to focus on nurses that account to the largest number of healthcare workers in Senegal and to trace the historical transition of Senegal's nursing education. The research methods are collection of reference materials, classification of contents, and interviews. As a result, we found that a visiting nursing school established in 1922 is the oldest public nursing school and a total of eight public schools had been established before the independence. The Senegal government laid down National Economic and Society Development Planning and set forth measures for healthcare problems as a priority issue, and has concentrated on nursing education since the independence in 1960. In 1992, the former Ministry of Social Health Activity established the National School of Health and Social Development by integrating 14 public schools related to health welfare. In 2003, it started a practical nurse training program aimed at increasing of the number of nurse graduates and decentralizing nursing education. In 2010, the nursing education standard was revised to improve the quality of nursing education and it will be applied to all nursing schools hereafter.
The need for strengthening management of human resource development and ensuring the quality of that by using the estimates of nurse supply and demand and the like can be suggested as future tasks for the nursing education in Senegal.

Background
  The Millennium Development Goals were put forth to strengthen maternal and child health, and because infectious disease has become a trend in the world, ensuring the quality and quantity of nursing is important. We report on a survey detailing the current status of legal frameworks and qualification systems in nursing in four countries: Cambodia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic (PDR), Myanmar, and Vietnam.
Method
  We conducted a semi-structured interview with nursing administrative officers, and then we confirmed those information in their countries in 2012 and 2013. We categorized the existing nursing legal framework, nursing qualification systems, professional association and council.
Results
  The King of Cambodia stipulated to a royal decree, which was established by the nursing council. In Lao PDR, following the Law on Health Care, two nursing and midwifery related regulations were developed. The Union of Myanmar enacted the Nurse and Midwife Law. In Vietnam following the Law on Medical Examination and Treatment, two Circulars were issued by the Ministry of Health to regulate the scope of practices and norms. We report on the current situation of the qualification and registration systems for nursing of each country. In addition, the development of qualifications and regulations should be reported based on the ASEAN Mutual Recognition Agreement (MRA).
Conclusion
  We conducted a comparison of four countries to ensure the quality of nursing. A challenge for the future is compliance and dissemination of the laws and regulations that have been developed. ASEAN MRA has become a driving force for improvement of these legal systems.