The French West Africa School of Medicine (École de médecine de l'Afrique Occidentale Française) was established on 1 November 1918, pursuant to a government decree of 14 January 1918, to train medical workers and midwives to assist colonial physicians and pharmacists.
It was inaugurated and headed by Aristide Le Dantec, director of a hospital founded in 1913 to treat the indigenous population of French West Africa.
Students were selected through competition at École normale supérieure William Ponty, where they studied a year of basic sciences before joining the medical school.
In 1906 Ernest Roume, the governor general of French West Africa, established the Aides médecins indigènes, a corps of indigenous medical aides who had completed a French Certificate of Primary Education and 30 months of medical studies.
From 1944 the school also trained students from French Equatorial Africa in Congo (École Edouard Renard de Brazzaville), Cameroon (École de santé d'Ayos) and Togo.