LONDON—The World Council of Optometry (WCO) has announced the launch of two new membership categories following their Governing Board meeting in Maputo, Mozambique, last month. The two categories are “Individual” and “Corporate” membership. WCO said it has introduced these categories in order to make the organization accessible to people who want to support their work.

Individual membership will be open to individual optometrists (as defined by WCO), vision scientists, faculty, researchers and eyecare industry professionals. The cost of individual membership is $100, or $50 if the individual member is from a developing country.

Corporate memberships are now open to commercial organizations that are not otherwise eligible for Associate or Affiliate membership in the WCO and have a recognized and approved business relationship with an Associate, Affiliate or Individual member.

Individual and Corporate members must endorse the WCO concept of optometry and support WCO's vision and mission. The fee for Corporate membership is $900 per year.

Susan Cooper, president of The World Council of Optometry said, “We have created these new membership categories in order for us to grow our membership base while recognizing and celebrating the support we have from individuals and organizations around the world.” She added, “You do not have to be an optometrist to be interested in our mission, which is to promote eye health and vision care as a human right through advocacy, education and policy development. We look forward to welcoming new individuals and organizations to our membership body.”

The WCO is an international organization dedicated to the enhancement and development of eye and vision care worldwide, via education, policy development and humanitarian outreach. WCO’s vision is to make “high quality eye health and vision care accessible to all people.” It has 95 member associations from over 45 countries across six world regions: Africa; North America; Asia Pacific; Europe; Latin America; and the Eastern Mediterranean. Collectively, these organizations represent over 150,000 optometrists around the world.