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Diabetes is a priority public health question in Réunion. Such concern gave rise to a regional health programme, run since 1995. In 2001, it became a 2nd generation regional health programme oriented towards prevention. Anthropological research has been developing since 1994 around type 2 diabetes. Its approach is determined by the demands formulated by epidemiologists, nutritionists, and public health physicians. The way in which our involvement in the regional health programme has evolved has prompted us to switch from an anthropology of diabetes centred on the local subject to a political one focusing on prevention: from the understanding of risk behaviours and medical and preventive treatment, to an appreciation of the impact of this type of joint operation on the handling of prevention policies at institutional level.